A Commentary on the

Satires of Juvenal

California Classical Studies

Number 2

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2013

A COMMENTARY
ON THE
SATIRES OF JUVENAL

Edward Courtney

CALIFORNIA

CLASSICAL
STUDIES
Berkeley, California

 2013 by Edward Courtney

Reprint, with minor corrections, of the edition first published 1980 by The
Athlone Press, London, UK.
California Classical Studies
c/o Department of Classics
University of California
Berkeley, California 947202520
USA
http://calclassicalstudies.org
email: ccseditorial@berkeley.edu

ISBN 9781939926029
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013948319

To Brenda,
Richard and Adam,
who allowed me
to write this book

C ONTE NTS

Preface

ix

Introduction: Genre, Poetics, and Social Change

Juvenals Life

Juvenal and His Satires

Juvenals View of Society and Morals

14

Juvenals Style

28

Juvenals Metre

37

Text and Manuscripts

42

Note on Coinage, Time, etc.

46

Bibliography 47
Maps 57
commentary
Satire 1

61

Satire 2

99

Satire 3

126

viiiCONTENTS

Satire 4

166

Satire 5

197

Satire 6

217

Satire 7

304

Satire 8

334

Satire 9

373

Satire 10

392

Satire 11

431

Satire 12

455

Satire 13

470

Satire 14

496

Satire 15

522

Satire 16

542

Appendix: Juvenal and Lucan

551

indices
I. Names
II. Subject-Matter
III. Style, Grammar, Latinity, Metre

556
556
565

[vii]

P ublis he r s Note (2013)

This edition was prepared by careful correction of OCR of the 1980 edition. The opportunity has been taken to correct various minor typographical errors and inconsistencies of
format, but the style and format of the original have essentially been retained. Addenda
that appeared on p. 623 of the original have been incorporated into the relevant notes,
where they are enclosed in square brackets. A few further addenda (in brackets, and dated
2013) have been supplied by the author.
The pagination of the 1980 edition is indicated in the text with a vertical bar and numbers between square brackets, thus |[154], placed before the first word of that page. When
the original page ended in a hyphenated word, the dividing mark has been positioned after
the whole word. Cross-references within the book and page references in the index have
been adjusted to the current pagination.
California Classical Studies gratefully acknowledges the initial scanning and correction
work performed by Daniel Esses and Joel Street. Secondary correction was carried out by
Donald Mastronarde, and final proofreading by Paul Psoinos and by the author.

author s P re face (2013)

My critical text of Juvenal was published by Edizioni dell Ateneo at Rome in 1984.
It would be impracticable to try to bring this commentary up to date and correct
its errors, so it reappears much as it was 30 years ago, since it still seems to be of
use. Apart from minor adjustments the only changes have been the correction of
such misprints and false references as have come to light, and two additions: a
note on 7.231 and, in the introduction, reference on p. 45 to recent discussions of
Vallas Probus. I am very grateful to Professor Mastronarde and California Classical Studies for thinking to republish it in this form, and for the accuracy of the
final proofs.

P re face ( 1 9 8 0)
A preface may usefully serve the purpose of explaining the objects set for himself
by an author and the way in which his book should be used. At the wish of my
publishers this commentary is not accompanied by a text; it is based on the Oxford Classical Text by W. V. Clausen, which is on the whole the text with which I
should agree more often than any other, and all textual discussions assume consultation of the evidence as presented by him. I have noted the places where my
own judgment differs from his; I had contemplated listing such places at the beix

xPREFACE

ginning of each satire, but decided that this would not be appropriate for details of
punctuation, and that the length of Six would make this pointless in that poem at
least. My main regret at the absence of a text is that the reader cannot see the poets words punctuated and paragraphed as I would wish, since, as the notes point
out, these modern typographical devices often greatly clarify the train of thought,
which has been much misunderstood and unjustly criticised because of defective
presentation; but I could not reasonably refuse to accept this sacrifice to economy.
The author of a commentary such as this has in my view three prime duties.
First, he must explain the poets words where they need explanation; secondly, he
must illustrate them, where required, with parallel passages which will confirm
the explanations offered, show the influence exerted on the poet by his predecessors, demonstrate his favourite turns of thought and expression, and indicate how
far he is employing thoughts generally current in the ancient world and how far
striking out in an original direction; thirdly, he must give the reader the opportunity to pursue farther the points raised by providing references to modern works
of scholarship.
With regard to the first of these duties, it should be said that I could not possibly peruse all the editions of Juvenal ever published, most of which clearly contain
little of individual value; but with this exception I have read virtually all the literature |[viii] about Juvenal on which I could lay hands (some of course remained inaccessible), recorded all the matter which I considered to be of value, and rescued
from oblivion some items which seem to me to merit this. On the other hand I
have in most cases resolutely suppressed mention of views which in my judgment
are clearly mistaken and of no interest; it should however generally be assumed
that I am aware of them, and I have given references to further discussions where
in my view an element of doubt about the interpretation remains.
The second duty poses the difficulty of deciding how much illustrative matter
to include (it must be remembered that the student of Juvenal has Mayors vast
stores to draw upon, though not in Two, Six or Nine, where I have been fairly
generous), and how to adduce it, for full quotation of all parallels is obviously economically impossible. My principle has been to quote passages which show direct
verbal influence on Juvenal or which in their precise wording are essential for the
understanding of his text; where it is a question of a general similarity of thought
it usually seemed sufficient to give references which may be checked by those who
wish to follow up the question. Of course this line of distinction wavers and leaves
a considerable grey area, in which I can only say that I have exercised the best of
my judgment. In principle I have attempted to include all that I consider of prime
relevance, which has obviously meant repeating much of Mayors material; but
at the same time I hope that I have helped the reader to see more clearly than his
edition permits by discarding superfluities. It will be understood that many things
which need to be placed on record to serve the needs of those studying individual

PREFACExi

passages in detail do not need to figure prominently in the ordinary course of

reading Juvenal. It should also be noted that sometimes it is important that parallels should be parallel, and that in such cases I am at fault if I have not drawn
attention to significant differences; but at other times when this is unimportant I
have economised on space by silence.
The third duty also presents problems of scale. One may hesitate whether to
give a list of primary sources or a reference to a modern work where they are
satisfactorily collected; I have preferred the latter course when the list would be
over-long or where the question involved would be best studied in a wider |[ix]
context than a note could attempt. One may also wonder how much secondary
material to adduce. I have been generous because I am conscious that I have the
fortune to work in a city well provided with books, but that many of those who use
this commentary may not have access to some sources of information; many of
the references given by me must therefore be considered to be alternatives to each
other, and it is not to be supposed that all need to be consulted in all cases to give a
full picture. On the other hand the sources referred to often take slightly different
views of the question, and some are more valuable for collections of material than
for interpretation of it; but I have tried not to refer to anything positively misleading without warning.
From all this two points about this commentary will be apparent. First, I have
tried to serve the needs of all those who read or refer to Juvenal for any purpose
whatsoever; this seems the right place to remind students of history, antiquities,
etc., that not every word written by Juvenal is intended to be taken literally. This is
not a purely literary commentary, though of course I have noted a good deal that
is relevant to the evaluation and criticism of Juvenal as a writer; but I cannot enter
in any detail into questions of general literary theory about the nature of satire,
on which it will be apparent that I take a rather less subtle view than is currently
fashionable (though I believe that the trend of studies on English satire is now in
the same direction). There are two areas in which I have refrained from extended
discussions, that of grammar, idiom and Silver Latin style, and that covering the
physical objects employed in the life of the ancient world; though here too I have
tried to help the enquirer who seeks more detail. Secondly, this is not a book
intended for beginners; undergraduates should not try to master it all, though I
hope that they will be able to consult it with profit, as I hope that all classes of users
will be able to pick out severally what corresponds to their individual needs. For a
total understanding of Juvenal all that I have noted seems relevant to me.
I am conscious that some minor inconsistencies in mode of citation, etc., remain, but I hope that none of these will cause any ambiguity. A commentary is
not a work of literature in its own right, and in this one elegance is sacrificed to
concentration. |[x] Juvenals exceptionally wide range of subject-matter ensures
that no commentator can be an expert at first-hand over all of it, and specialists in

xiiPREFACe

every field are invited to correct any of my misapprehensions. This long commentary would have been even longer if I had tried to note the sources of its materials:
I have of course contributed some original matter, part of it due to the progress
of knowledge and the discovery of new texts since the publication of the last commentary on Juvenal. For the rest, the only practical course seemed to be to limit
acknowledgements to particularly striking ideas or to large-scale borrowings and
discussions. Those who find their interpretations or illustrative matter adopted in
silence will, I hope, be satisfied by the emphatic declaration that by far the greater
proportion of my commentary is not original, and by an invitation to scholars
in general to treat my commentary as I have treated the contributions of others.
However I must make particular acknowledgement to Duff among previous commentators; the reader will note that I often quote directly from him, as I do not to
any extent from any other commentator, because I could in no way improve on
his formulations.
I have been greatly assisted by the generosity of friends in advising me. Most
commentators on Juvenal find themselves enmeshed in the technical details of
the Roman army and Roman law; in these areas Mr M. W. Hassall, Professor J. J.
Wilkes and Professor J. A. C. Thomas have been kind enough to check my work,
a service performed on the Egyptological side by Professor J. R. Harris and Dr
D. M. Dixon. A first typescript of the whole work was read by Dr M. Coffey, and
substantial portions by Professor W. S. Maguinness; at a later stage between them
Professors W. J. N. Rudd and R. G. M. Nisbet read the whole commentary. Many
of their suggestions are now anonymously incorporated in the commentary, and
so are some opinions to which they would not assent. It will be observed that the
emphasis of a few notes differs slightly from that to be found in the school-edition
of One, Three and Ten produced by Professor Rudd and myself in 1977; this is due
to the different purpose of that work.
15 December 1978
|[xi] Postscript
My best thanks are due to my colleagues Mr B. Gredley, Mrs A. C. Griffiths and
Miss W. M. Beard for their generous and vigilant help in correction of the proofs;
and, now that his task is nearly over, to Mr N. J. Dyson of the Athlone Press, who
has nursed this project for many years.
A typographical difficulty has come to light too late for alteration. The reader is
asked to look attentively for marks of long quantity over italic i, which could not
be printed as distinctively as I wished.
17 October 1979

[1]

Introduction
Juvenals Life

Our biographical information about the Roman poets is derived from one or
more of three sources: (1) what they say in their own writings (2) the biographical
tradition (3) references in documents (such as inscriptions) and other writers.
In the case of Juvenal we gain little information from (1), because his satires are
largely devoted to tirades against subjects external to the writer, and (except Seven and Twelve; see p. 7) have little of the autobiographical element prominent in
(for example) Horace, for which their declamatory nature makes them unsuitable.
However, from allusions in the poems we do at least gain a chronological framework for their composition; for detailed corroboration of the datings derived in
what follows from individual passages in each case the notes should be consulted.
Juvenals manuscripts divide his poems into five books, and ancient sources
who quote him employ the same book-division. Book 1 embraces Satires 15. The
reference to the prosecution of Marius Priscus in 1.4950 gives a terminus post
quem of A.D. 100 for that poem. 2.102 probably alludes to the Histories of Tacitus,
which would give a terminus post quem of (at earliest) c. A.D. 107. 4.1 shows that
that poem is later than 1; 2, 3 and 5 are probably earlier (see on 1.86).
Book 2. 6.407 sqq. give a terminus post quem of A.D. 116, and suggest that the
events referred to are recent.
Book 3 (79). The Caesar of 7.1 is almost certainly Hadrian, who succeeded
Trajan in 117, arrived in Rome in 118, and left it for a long provincial tour in 121.
Book 4 (1012) shows no clear references. The episodes of Sejanus and Silius
in 10 almost certainly draw on the Annals of Tacitus, but the date of publication
of that work or the relevant portions of it cannot be established firmly enough to
help.
Book 5 (1316). The consul Fonteius of 13.1617 is generally taken to be that
of A.D. 67, on the grounds that he is named before his colleague in the Fasti and
that year-dating by one |[2] consul (cf. 15.27, etc.; there and elsewhere a suffect
consul) postulates this seniority. But in the first place it is questionable if this postulate of seniority is justified (see Astbury AJP 98, 1977, 393). Secondly, the consul
of 67 is only recorded by his cognomen Capito; his nomen is inferred from an
1

2introduction

identification (plausible, it must be admitted) with the legate of Germany in 68.

Thirdly, another contender, the consul Fonteius Capito of 59, is named first by as
many sources as those which put him second. Fourthly, there is also the consul C.
Fonteius (evidently Fonteius Agrippa) of 58 (CIL 4 p. 397; consul suff. in second
place). In any case the passage only gives a terminus post quem, not an absolute
dating; this terminus, usually taken to be A.D. 127, may alternatively be A.D. 11819.
14.196 gives a terminus post quem of 123, 15.27 of 127; 14.99 gives a terminus ante
quem of 132. The whole book therefore may be dated about A.D. 130.
When he wrote 1.25 Juvenal was no longer a iuvenis, i.e. if we understand this
strictly he was aged over 45; when he wrote 11.2013 he was an old man. It is therefore clear that all of his surviving work is the product of his middle and old age.
The chronological succession of Books 25 would invite us to place the publication of Book 1 around A.D. 112, and we may put his birth about A.D. 60.
It will be noted that whereas Horaces praenomen and cognomen are both
mentioned in his satires (2.1.18, 2.6.37; his nomen in the Odes and Epistles), and
Lucilius praenomen in fr. 1035 and his nomen often, Juvenals nomen Iunius and
his praenomen Decimus are only known from mss. subscriptions and biographies
(and the praenomen not too securely; it is omitted by nearly all sources in the text
of the biography, and nowhere appears in the subscriptions of P or R, though an
eighth-century catalogue (Ullman Scriptorium 8, 1954, 31) records a subscription
Divi (= D. Iuni) Iuvenalis). He never mentions any of his names.
Other inferences drawn from the poems will be discussed later.
(3) The other reliable source of information about Juvenal which we have is
the evidence of his older contemporary and friend, Martial, who addresses him in
three epigrams. 7.24 and 91 belong to A.D. 92, and speak of Juvenal as a close friend
to whom a Saturnalia present is sent; he was evidently living on |[3] intimate terms
with Martial, and consequently in Rome. He is addressed as facundus, which may
refer either to oratory or poetry. 12.18 belongs to A.D. 1012:
dum tu forsitan inquietus erras
clamosa, Iuvenalis, in Subura
aut collem dominae teris Dianae;
dum per limina te potentiorum
sudatrix toga ventilat vagumque
maior Caelius et minor fatigant

(collis Dianae is the Aventine; see on Juv. 3.85). Here Juvenal is represented as
likely to frequent the humbler parts of the city and haunt the houses of the great in
the superior districts as a poor client. He expresses his dislike of the Subura at 3.5,
and his frequent mentions of the miseries of clients may fairly be taken to imply
some degree of personal involvement (see on 1.101, 3.152, 9.489). Nisard pointed
out that all three poems to Juvenal contain a dirty joke (though at 12.18.22 if tu
means one he need not be directly linked with the joke), and that Juvenals own

Juvenals Life3

poetry might give an impression of a nasty attitude to sex (see on 6.70 and 422);
but lasciva est nobis pagina, vita proba ought to deter us from stressing this in the
case of either poet. At 4.106 Juvenal deplores dissipation in the life of a satirist, and
at 11.170 sqq. excludes it from his own life (though allowance must be made for his
literary pose in this poem).
The other important piece of evidence in this category is an inscription from
Aquinum (CIL 10.5382), first recorded in 1772, last recorded from autopsy in 1808,
and lost by 1846. This has often been uncritically presented, but recently has been
carefully reviewed by S. Monti (Rendiconti dell Accademia di Archeologia, Lettere
e Belle Arti di Napoli 40, 1965, 79110). Some lines at the beginning were illegible,
then followed (the infra-linear dots do not pretend to epigraphical precision, but
indicate letters about which the reports show substantial disagreement):

CERI SCVM
IV]NIVS IVVENALIS
T][B] COH DELMATARVM
I I QVINQ. FLAMEN
DIVI VESPASIANI
VOVIT DEDICAVITQVE
SVA PEC.

or

. . . DELMATARVM I I
VIR QVINQV. FLAMEN

|[4] The reading of the first line, in view of the divergence of the copies, is highly uncertain, and what is given above may be no more than a guess based on
Juvenals known links with Aquinum and his mention of a cult of Ceres there
(3.31922), which however he associates not with his own but with another local
family. This line was clearly so difficult to decipher that it cannot be used as evidence. In the second line the praenomen of the dedicator had been knocked off;
as pointed out above, even that of the poet himself is hardly well-established. The
restoration of the third and fourth lines is also subject to doubt; Monti suggests
that we should read CO. II DELMATARVM, Mommsen had proposed COH. I
DELMATARVM, and E. Flores (Letteratura Latina e Societ (1973) 71 = Annali
della Facolta di Lettere, Napoli 10, 19623, 74) prefers

COH. DELMATARVM II
QVINQ. FLAMEN
(in which case QVINQ. means duovir quinquennalis). Whatever the exact restoration, the meaning will be tribune of a cohort (or of the first cohort or of the
second cohort) of Dalmatians, duovir quinquennalis, flamen of the deified Vespasian. It would be usual for the number of the cohort to be given, but e.g. CIL
11.6009 presents praef. coh. Hispanorum equitatae. If TRIB. is correct (and although the evidence for it is not above doubt, there is no evidence at all to favour

4introduction

the alternative restoration PRAEF.), this will be a cohort of 1000 men, a cohors
miliaria, under a tribunus militum (see the note on the structure of the Roman
army appended to this section, p. 8).
The duoviri in towns like Aquinum were the leading municipal officials; the
quinquennales, whose office was a special distinction, were the duoviri of every
fifth year and had duties like those of the censors at Rome, involving the compilation of lists of the local town counsellors (decuriones) and citizens (RE duoviri
1825, Langhammer 148 and 196). The mention of a flaminate of the deified Vespasian (Scott 45), an office ordinarily held for a year (F. Geiger De Sacerdotibus Augustorum Municipalibus (1913) 456, D. Ladage Stdtische Priester- und Kultmter
(1971) 805), gives a terminus post quem of A.D. 7980. We may compare the career of L. Minicius Exoratus (CIL 5.5239 = ILS 6727), who was flamen of Titus, trib.
mil. and duovir, evidently at Comum.
What sort of man was the dedicator at Aquinum? Evidently |[5] fairly affluent, since both the duovirate (Callistratus Dig. 50.4.14.3; RE duoviri 1814 and 1817,
Langhammer 44, 105, 1801, Garnsey Historia 20, 1971, 323) and the flaminate (DS
flamen 1186, Ladage 11720 and 634) would involve considerable expense (see
in general Duncan-Jones 82, Garnsey JRS 61, 1971, 116, SG 2.10 and 82 = 2.12 and
102, 2.250 = 3.234). On the evidence of the inscription considered on its own we
should be inclined to class him as one of those who, like Columella, held the military tribunate (which would involve equestrian rank, and carried a status equal
to that of a legionary tribune) without any intention of completing the militia
equestris, and then retired to municipalities with enhanced prestige (Birley 1389,
Syme HSCP 73, 1969, 208). This does not at all fit what we know about Juvenal, and
in my opinion we do best to suppose that the inscription refers to some relative of
his; probably one of a younger generation, since military cohorts of Dalmatians
were evidently first raised in the Marcomannic wars of Marcus Aurelius (RE cohors 2804, J. Wilkes Dalmatia (1969) 473; for the persistence of the cults of Titus
and Vespasian to this date cf. Geiger 31). There does not seem to be any reason
to doubt the genuineness of the inscription, though local patriotism bred forged
inscriptions of e.g. Vergil and Propertius. What we can infer from its discovery
at Aquinum and Juvenals known links with that town is that this was his place
of origin.
(2) Juvenal lived too late to be included by Suetonius in his lives of the poets.
His scholiast, dating from the second half of the fourth century, makes these biographical statements:
on 1.1; that he attacked the times of Domitian because actors had more power
at court than good men; that he was exiled by Domitian ad civitatem ultimam
Aegypti Ho<a>s<im>, where he wrote hos libros, and that the immediate cause of
his exile was that he spoke the verse 7.90.
on 4.37; that because of the uncomplimentary reference in these lines to Domi-

Juvenals Life5

tians baldness, he was relegated sub specie honoris ad cohortis curam to Hoasa,
where he died.
on 7.92; that he was sent into exile because of this verse.
on 15.27; de se dicit Iuvenalis quia in Aegypto militem tenuit.
The interpolated texts of Juvenal (but not P or any of its congeners) provide a
number of biographies of Juvenal, almost |[6] all palpably worthless. The only one
which prima facie merits any credence, and which seems to have served as a basis
for the others, is that printed by Wessner p. 1 and Clausen p. 179; the unreliable
Valla attributes it to his Probus. In translation this runs as follows:
(D.) Junius Juvenalis, the son or adopted son (this is not established) of a rich
freedman, was a declaimer until about middle age, more as a hobby than because
he was preparing himself for a career as a professional declaimer or barrister.
Then he composed a satire of a few verses, quite wittily, against the pantomime
dancer Paris and his librettist, who was vain because of trivial six-month military
appointments, and proceeded to devote himself to this style of writing. Yet for a
long time he did not venture to entrust anything even to quite a small audience.
Subsequently he gave readings a few times to packed audiences with such success
that he inserted into his later writings his first composition also [then 7.902 are
quoted]. At that time there was an actor who was a court favourite, and many
of his fans were being promoted daily. Therefore Juvenal came under suspicion
of making indirect attacks on the times, and, although in his eighties, he was removed from Rome by a military appointment and sent to take command of a
cohort on its way to the remotest part of Egypt. This kind of punishment was
decided upon so that it might match his trivial and humorous offence. However
within a very short time he died because of vexation and disgust.
Sidonius Apollinaris Carm. 9.271, dated to A.D. 4612, states that he will not
imitate Ovid
nec qui consimili deinde casu
ad vulgi tenuem strepentis auram
irati fuit histrionis exul.

This certainly refers to Juvenal, an author familiar to Sidonius, and equally certainly derives from the remarks of the scholiast (we cannot assume that the vita
had by then been compiled).
John Malalas (Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae 31 ed. Dindorf (1831)
10 pp. 2623) says that Domitian was in love with the dancer of the green faction,
Paris, and was reviled in respect of him by the Senate and Juvenal. He exiled Juvenal to the Libyan Pentapolis, and settled Paris with much wealth in |[7] Antioch,
where he died. From this derives the account in the Suda article on Juvenal.
The fantastic elements in these accounts and their contradictions in detail are
obvious; but all have a certain common kernel, which in its most plausible form is

6introduction

this: that Juvenal was exiled by Domitian, that the place of his exile was the larger
of the great Oases in the Libyan desert, el-Khargeh, and that the cause of his exile
was an attack on an actor in the words of 7.902. If we think of 7.902 as they now
occur in our texts of Juvenal, these statements are mutually incompatible, since 7
was published long after the death of Domitian; but what the scholiast on 1.1 says
is that he spoke (dixit) 7.90, for which he was exiled to Egypt, where he wrote his
satires. We would infer that the scholiast believed that the three lines were introduced by Juvenal into the context in which they now stand from a juvenile composition, and this seems to be recognised by the biographer. But the biographer
has involved himself in confusion by introducing Paris into the story from the
context in Juvenal; it is noticeable that what we must regard as the earliest form
of the story (the scholiast and Sidonius) has only one actor, and it is clear that
the story grew and was elaborated with successive re-tellings, Nevertheless some
have modified the biographers version and supposed that ten years or so after the
death of Paris in A.D. 83 Juvenal thought that he could with impunity attack a fallen favourite, but that Domitian still resented the attack and exiled him. If he was
exiled by Domitian, in view of the evidence of Martial this must have taken place
after A.D. 92; but there are grave grounds for doubting the whole story.
(1) If Juvenal did attack an actor, who was he? Surely he would have been
named if anything concrete had been known about him.
(2) It passes belief that at the end of Domitians reign Juvenal would have been
so foolish as to make a direct attack on a court favourite, or Domitian so indulgent
as merely to banish him. In the biographers version the attack becomes indirect
(quasi tempora figurate notasset; cf. Sidon. Apoll. Ep. 4.1.2 si quid satiricus fi
guratum (condidit) and Quintil. 9.2.679); but Domitian executed the historian
Hermogenes of Tarsus propter quasdam in historia figuras (Suet. 10). The biographer makes the story a neat |[8] tit for tat; Juvenal has criticised Paris for bestowing the honor militiae (7.88) and alleged praefectos Pelopea facit, now he himself
per honorem militiae urbe summotus est missusque ad praefecturam cohortis
(improving on the ad cohortis curam of the scholiast on 4.37). The biographer
complacently draws attention to the point (id supplicii genus par esset), but we
cannot but feel that this is the humour of a pedant (who has taken not only Paris
but also the honor militiae from the context beside 7.902) rather than the behaviour of Domitian at the end of his reign, capable though he had shown himself
of a macabre practical joke (see Introduction to Four).
(3) Ulpian, who died in A.D. 228, remarks (Dig. 48.22.7.5) est quoddam genus
quasi in insulam relegationis in provincia Aegypto in Oasin relegare, but the context makes it plain that this does not refer to banishment from Rome to Oasis, but
to a punishment available to the prefect within Egypt. The known instances of this
punishment are examined by J. Schwartz, Ml. A. Piganiol (1960) 3.1481 (cf. RE
Oasis 1682.20), who concludes that it would be an anachronism in Juvenals time,

Juvenals Life7

and belongs to the scholiasts own day.

(4) 7.8892 are not entirely relevant in the immediate context, which deals
with the poverty of writers. But non dant proceres is relevant, and 902 are closely
linked with 945 (93 being probably spurious). It is possible that Juvenal could
successfully have integrated lines from an earlier poem, but it is not a supposition
which in this case one would welcome.
If the story is to be rejected, how did it arise? Probably simply from Juvenals
phrase quantum ipse notavi (15.45), which the scholiast could have misunderstood
to mean as I have myself observed (taking quantum in a sense current in his own
day) and to imply that Juvenal had actually been in Egypt, in a satire followed by
one about the military life (treated however in a manner which makes it unlikely
that the author had been a soldier) in an incomplete state, suggesting that the
writer had died before completing it.
Since the statements of the biographer about Juvenals exile arouse scepticism
as to the extent of his knowledge, we will regard with equal scepticism the other
statements which he makes about the poets life. The assertion that he was the
son or adopted son of a rich freedman is not plausible in view of his |[9] scorn for
freedmen and the fact that he probably belonged to a family held in respect locally;
it may be due to the transference of a biographical detail from the life of another
satirist, Horace, who was libertino patre natus (such things are well established in
ancient biography; Horaces own biography has been affected by that of Bion).
The statement that he was a declaimer until middle age is probably merely an inference from the combination of 1.1517 and 25; it may however through accident
have hit the target, since Martials facundus is more likely to refer to oratory than
poetry in view of the absence of good evidence that Juvenal wrote any poetry under Domitian (bad evidence to that effect has just been rejected). The detail of the
biographer that at first he did not recite is probably an unsophisticated inference
from 1.16 and 1521, a passage which certainly discourages the belief that Juvenal
had previously written anything. The final remark angore et taedio periit is probably drawn from 7.34.
We are left with the conclusion that, because his writings were evidently not
popular with his contemporaries and long remained out of fashion, nothing was
known about his life when he again came into fashion, and resort was made to
inference and fabrication. What we know for sure about him consists solely of the
evidence of Martial and the few remarks in his own writings. The combination
suggests that while in A.D. 101 he was a poor client in Rome, with a place where he
could stay in Aquinum, by about twenty years later he had a house at Rome (11.171,
190) which appears to have been a family inheritance (12.879), and perhaps a
small farm at Tibur (11.65 sqq.) from which he drew his servants (11.151 sqq.);
it would be over-sceptical to attribute these statements wholly to literary convention, though that certainly plays its part (see on 11.64; on the other hand one

8introduction

should not derive any inferences from insisting on a personal application of mihi
at 16.37, or from 3.223 sqq., which need not be specifically addressed to Juvenal).
This lends some colour to the suggestion that the change of tone perceptible in
Book 4 and to a lesser extent in 5 (analysed in the next chapter) and the emphasis
on tranquillitas in Ten (see the introduction there) may be at any rate partly due
to an amelioration in his personal circumstances; certainly these books as a whole
are less bitter and place less emphasis on poverty and |[10] clientship. This however
must not be regarded as established fact; Juvenals work should be considered in
purely literary terms rather than pressed as a source of biographical information,
and, as will be pointed out, towards the end of his production he makes something
of a return to his earlier manner.
[Addendum, originally on p. 623: The life of Juvenal has now been discussed by
Syme CP 74, 1979, 1; but nothing new and substantial emerges.]
Note: The Structure of the Roman Army and Paramilitary Forces
The study of Juvenals life and the interpretation of a number of passages in his
writings require a certain knowledge of the structure of the Roman army in his
day. It seems convenient to gather together here the relevant points; my account
is of course very incomplete.
(1) The auxiliaries, supplying cavalry and light-armed troops. The cavalry was
divided into alae usually about 500 strong, though some units had about 1000
men; each ala was commanded by a praefectus and divided into turmae. The lightarmed troops were divided into cohortes usually about 500 strong commanded
by praefecti (junior to a praefectus alae), but in some cases about 1000 strong
commanded by tribuni militum. These cohorts were sometimes part-mounted;
the infantry was divided into centuries, the cavalry into turmae. The ascending
order of seniority among the officers was praefectus cohortis, tribunus militum,
praefectus alae.
(2) The legions, each of which was divided into 10 cohorts, and each of those
into 6 centuries of about 80 men, except that the first cohort was twice the size of
the others and had only five larger centuries. The centurions of this cohort were
the primi ordines, and the highest-ranking of all was the primus pilus; there were
two men of this rank, one of whom held a command and the other acted as a staff
officer. The legion was commanded by a legatus legionis (a senator of praetorian
rank) supported by a tribunus laticlavius (a senator designate; cf. on 1.106) and 5
tribuni angusticlavii (equestrians).
(3) The praetorian guard, consisting of 10 cohorts each 500 strong and divided
into centuries. The guard was commanded by 2 equestrian praefecti, who had beneath them tribuni and centuriones. Cf. on 16.20.
(4) The cohortes urbanae, 3 cohorts commanded by tribuni and the praefectus
urbi.

Juvenal and his Satires 9

(5) The vigiles, 7 cohorts commanded by tribunes, each of |[11] 1000 men and
each divided into 7 centuries. The whole force was under the praefectus vigilum.
The above account assumes that the organisation of the legion described by
Vegetius, in which the legionary cohorts each consisted of 550 men divided into 5
centuries, is not to be attributed to the times of Hadrian.
Juvenal and his Satires

The Romans regarded Lucilius, who in Juvenals time was recovering popularity
(on 1.20; Tacitus and Martial adduced on 6.454), as the founder of formal verse
satire, and in his programmatic first poem Juvenal clearly looks back to him as a
model (1920, 1514, 1658). It is therefore worth considering what features the
two have in common. Obviously the most important is the tone of aggression
against named individuals, which is what Juvenal emphasises in that poem; but
of course whereas Lucilius attacked living contemporaries of rank and position,
Juvenal did not, and instead employed names as exempla in the rhetorical style
to give concrete embodiment to the vices which he wished to attack (see introduction to One). Second is the character of their diction; Lucilius freely introduced Greek words and phrases, such as those used by Juvenal at 5.121, 9.37, 11.27,
and was criticised for this by Horace, who demonstratively sets the example of
avoidance at Serm. 1.9.78. In this respect Juvenal, who desired to give his satire a
more varied and highly-coloured stylistic character than Horace sought, in order
to raise the emotional temperature above Horatian equability, returns to Lucilian practice; Greek words are often used by him to convey contempt (see p. 35).
Finally there is their method of composition. Horace has this to say of Lucilius:
(1.4.11) cum flueret lutulentus, erat quod tollere velles and (1.10.50) saepe ferentem
/ plura quidem tollenda relinquendis. The verbosity visible in his longest surviving fragment (1326 sqq.), even when we allow for deliberate intent, fully justifies
Horace; the same quality can often be noted in Juvenal too (see p. 37). We cannot
tell whether Lucilius garrulity made him stray into digressions such as we often
find in Juvenal, but it is noticeable that he wrote a number of satires which filled a
whole book (1, 2, 3, 16), as Juvenal did with satire Six, Book 2. |[12]
Juvenal also mentions Horace as one of his models (1.51), but without giving
great prominence to him. Just as Horace chose to stress the autobiographical element in Lucilius (2.1.314) because that was the type of satire which he himself
wanted to write (sequor hunc l.c.), so Juvenal chooses to stress the aggressive side
of Horaces writing for the same reason, though this is not what we now regard as
the outstanding feature of his work (or what Persius regarded as such, 1.11618); if
we might select a motto for each of them, in one case it would be ridentem dicere
verum, in the other facit indignatio versum. Horace freely attacks contemporaries,
at any rate in Book I, but they are nearly all people of no status or significance (N.

10introduction

Rudd The Satires of Horace (1966) 1338; the most prominent are Tillius, Fausta
and Sallustius); Juvenals procedure in the great majority of cases is to use the
names of the dead as exempla, as indicated above. The early satires of Juvenal
show very little that is Horatian and much that is un-Horatian in character, but
the change in tone and technique in much of his later work (discussed below)
brings it a little closer to Horace. The dialogue in Nine with the elaborate politeness of the poets interlocutions veiling their irony reminds us of Horace 2.4;
Eleven possesses something of the mellowness of an Horatian epistle (Epist. 1.5 is
analysed in relation to Juvenal in the introduction, and one might more generally
think of the tone of Sermones 2.2 and 6), though it appears to have a sting for
the addressee absent in Horace; the compositional technique of Fourteen recalls
Horace (see introduction there).
Juvenal occasionally imitates Persius in detail, but never mentions him and has
little in common with him.
In his programmatic poem Juvenal makes a bow to the traditional medley
character of satire (816), but immediately cancels it by focussing on vitia; before
that he has represented himself as driven by ira and indignatio (45, 79) to attack
these vitia. In illustrating the subject-matter of satire he lays stress on the misuse
of money in two converse aspects, meanness and extravagance. Two assails homosexuality and effeminacy, with incidental but important stress on hypocrisy.
Three attacks life in the capital city for its discomforts and dangers and for the
difficulty of making a living there. Four is concerned with the |[13] corruption of
Domitians court, with special reference to gluttony. Five depicts the miseries of a
clients life and the indignities to which he has to submit when invited to a meal.
Here ends Book 1, which has considerable thematic unity. Six is a blunderbuss assault on women and the unhappiness caused to men by marriage. Seven portrays
the poverty of men devoted to culture, a poverty only relieved by a faint hope
of imperial patronage. Eight alleges that right from the beginnings of Rome the
nobility has failed to maintain an association between nobilitas and virtus, and
that the latter has shown itself in men of humble origins. It will be seen that these
poems are concerned with denouncing vast areas of contemporary life at Rome,
the iniqua Urbs (1.30); the city of Rome is intolerable to live in, it has just endured
the rule of a savage tyrant, the nobility is corrupt, many men are becoming effeminate, women are insufferable, humble clients and men of the arts live in poverty,
money reigns supreme.
But with the Ninth poem a change in technique begins to become apparent.
The poet himself speaks only a little over a third of the poem, and the rest is put
in the mouth of a bisexual gigolo who complains of the miseries of his lot (the
part played by Umbricius in Three is not comparable with this). The poet does
not attack him overtly, though irony is clearly perceptible, and in fact in what he

Juvenal and his Satires 11

says makes critical mention of only five named individuals (though he probably
named others in a gap after 134), all incidental (Naevolus adds Virro, 35). It is
worth while contrasting Two, where, even if we discount Hispo and Hister in the
speech of Laronia (see also the names in 49), we have Laronia herself, Peribomius,
Sextus, Varillus, Creticus, Gracchus, Lyde, Zalaces and his tribune, the adulteresses of 689, and the historical exempla from the recent past (see pp. 301) of
Otho and the pair Domitian and Julia, as well as many historical exempla from the
remote past (like Fabricius 9.142) used to point to the degeneracy of the present.
Ten, which begins a new book, marks the change by a programmatic statement
at the beginning. The motive for writing is no longer anger, but irony based on
cynical laughter; the goal of life is tranquillitas. The poem opens with reference to
the whole world (omnibus in terris), not just Rome, and its exempla also embrace
all the world (cf. 138), most of them coming from |[14] the distant past. The subject is The Right and Wrong Objects of Prayer, again not a denunciatory topic,
though it is treated in a declamatory manner and structured round a series of
exempla; one may compare 8.146268. It will however be observed that Juvenal is
not here angry at his exempla; the only people actually attacked are Cossus (202),
the disreputable characters of 2206 and the adulteresses of 31922. One will note
also that in this poem Juvenal not only criticises what is wrong but explicitly,
though much more briefly, advises what is right. The same applies to Eleven,
which criticises luxury and extravagance and praises simplicity in life-style. Juvenals earlier poems had conveyed few positive admonitions like this; the nearest
approach comes with some advice given to Ponticus in Eight. It is noticeable that
in the smaller (about a quarter of the poem) negative portion of Eleven (155) six
people are named in uncomplimentary fashion, in the positive portion only one
(Trypherus 137).
A stylistic comparison between the latter portion of this poem (56208, 153
lines) and Five (173 lines), the subject matter of which is very roughly comparable, will illustrate the more relaxed manner of writing shown in a number of the
later satires; I shall concentrate on those features which I shall emphasise when
I come to discuss Juvenals style. Eleven then has one rhetorical question (182),
eight cases of anaphora (in 1902 the presence of exue makes this into synonymia
as well as anaphora), one of subnexio or regressio (63), one of occupatio (162), one
of periphrasis (612), four of antithesis (567, 1089, 120, 2013), one pun (195),
and one sententia functioning as an epiphonema (208). Five has eleven cases of
anaphora (I include 1668 iam, though this is not striking), nine rhetorical questions (of which those in 811, 623, 12730 are combined in groups of two or more,
and that in 157 shows also chiastic anaphora and irony), one case of occupatio
(156), two exclamations (24 and 67), one paradox (10), one case of redditio (1415),
six of irony, frequent sermocinatio, two cases of epanalepsis (11213, 1334), two
of epiphora (135 and 1478, the former with polyptoton), four of hyperbole and

12introduction

seven of periphrasis (two coming together at 456, though the former might be
classed as antonomasia), three instances of what may be called either synecdoche
or antonomasia (59, 1389, 149), three sententiae (66, 140, |[15] 1301), and continual antithesis (that at 113 being also an isocolon).
Eleven, like Nine, is addressed to a friend to whom Juvenal remains polite but
whom he evidently regards with some irony; the same is true of two characters
introduced in Twelve, Catullus and Corvinus. This satire ends with an attack on
legacy-hunting, and, though the treatment shows more irony than denunciation,
that inevitably involves naming names; in the first part of the poem we have only
the fat Hispulla and the bibulous wife of Fuscus. Thirteen also shows an addressee
treated in friendly but ironical fashion; Calvinus is consoled for being defrauded
of a sum of money, but the consolation is framed in a way which makes it plain
that his dolor (grief and resentment) is disproportionate to its cause and rooted
in meanness. The poem however turns serious half-way through, with the positive message that men should not make desire for revenge a motive for action
(it seems fair to call this a positive message, though my formulation contains the
word not). Fourteen covers two themes, parental influence and avarice. In the
case of both positive precepts are given: parents should take great care to set an
example (3885), a modest competence is enough (31631); but, though 256 is still
Democritean, the bulk of the poem is a return to Juvenals earlier manner of aggression against a clearly identified section of society (parents) and a vice. Yet the
discussion remains in general terms; apart from historical exempla only Rutilus,
Larga and Caetronius and his son are attacked, none of them in the positive parts.
Two at any rate of these, Rutilus and Larga, illustrate the difficulty of discussing
Juvenals use of names; from what he says it would be hard to asseverate that they
had historical existence, and they may simply be fictitious exempla, names made
up to give some particularity to a vice. From lack of information we often cannot
fruitfully discuss this problem.
Fifteen also has something in common with Juvenals earlier manner; it attacks
a community (not however a section of Roman society) for its barbarism and
shows horror at the way in which men can violate their nature, which is superior
to that of the animals and akin to the divine. In view of the subject and setting of
the poem it is readily comprehensible that the discussion does not involve any
attacks on named Romans (the only |[16] contemporary named is in a consular
dating, 27); the pessimism embraces the whole human race. The fragmentary nature of Sixteen makes it impossible to pass a final judgment, but again it does seem
to approach his earlier manner in that it is an attack on a clearly identified section
of Roman society, soldiers, illustrated with reference to named Romans. However
it retains the irony characteristic of his later work in that it criticises military life
under the guise of praising it.
Many scholars and critics speak as if the literary production of Juvenal fell

Juvenal and his Satires 13

into two clearly defined halves, a denunciatory declamatory period and one of
tranquillity and meditation. The truth is more complex than that, and shows not
a sharp divide, but gradual transitions towards and again away from a calmer approach. It is correct to say that 18 are, broadly speaking, homogeneous and in total form a depressing picture of Roman life and society. Eight however shows the
beginnings of an interest in providing positive admonition, and Nine embodies
a cooler, less vehement form of writing; it introduces a series of poems in which
the emphasis is on private morality, not on society (whereas in Two, the theme
of which is in some ways comparable, the link with Roman society is very plain),
and shows little attempt (only in 1303) to generalise its theme into an attack on
a sizeable and clearly identified section of the community. Ten ends with positive
advice in the field of personal ethics of strongly Stoic colouring, as it began with
commendation of Democritus; though Juvenal disclaims any technical knowledge
of philosophy (13.121), Books 4 and 5 show a tendency to appeal to philosophers
(Solon 10.274; 13.184; 14.319; 15.106, where in fact his knowledge is defective, and
172, with which one may contrast the purely humorous reference at 3.229; 15.142
sqq. is also of markedly Stoic character), whereas in Two and at 3.116 he attacks
hypocrite philosophers. Ten also begins with a general proposition advanced for
the sake of argument (in rhetorical terms a thesis), and so do Thirteen and Fourteen; in essence the beginning of Eleven is similar, though it is couched in the
concrete form of exempla. Fifteen and Sixteen open with rhetorical questions, as
did Eight.
Juvenal himself is more prominent personally in Eleven and Twelve, which in
their chatty tone carry out the promise of a more relaxed style made in Ten, than
he is anywhere else (cf. |[17] p. 8), and Eleven begins a series of three poems tied to
specific occasions and related to addressees who are treated in an ironical manner
(the occasions being an accepted invitation to dinner, an escape from shipwreck,
a case of fraud); Eight looks forward to this form, in that it had an addressee, Ponticus, a hint of criticism of him (11113 and 1314), and probably an occasion (his
appointment as a provincial governor). Fourteen, Fifteen and Sixteen continue to
have addressees, but they are no longer integral to the subjects of the poems, even
in Fifteen, which does have a specific occasion but one unconnected with the addressee; Fourteen and Sixteen do not have occasions. Most of these poems name
the addressees in the first line (a feature which in a number of Roman poems is designed to convey a compliment, in the style of a modern dedication), but mention
of them is deferred in Eleven and Thirteen, which start from striking openings.
One must assume that the addressees of 1416 were real people known to Juvenal, since it would be pointless to invent an addressee of whom no use is made in
the poem. Ponticus too was doubtless a real person, since otherwise the digression
on provincial government would be unmotivated; this is also suggested by 8.87.
What about Persicus, Corvinus and Calvinus? There is reason to suppose that

14introduction

Persicus was invented (see the introduction to Eleven), and one must suspect the
same of Corvinus; both have names which seem suspiciously appropriate to the
circumstances in which they find themselves. Calvinus however seems to have
enough individual identity (17) to justify acceptance of his reality.
Incidentally it will have been noticed that Juvenal seems to have made an effort
to link successive poems, and even successive books, by formal devices. Thirteen,
the first poem of Book 5, has a clear resemblance formally to Eleven and Twelve;
in addition to points already mentioned, all of them fall into two halves. Poem Six
(i.e. Book 2) is in form, like Five (the last poem of Book 1), a
or dissuasio (their addressees being respectively Trebius and Postumus), and
something of this form persists in 7.24 sqq. to Telesinus. A thematic connection
which might be noted is that the corrupting influence of the Urbs insisted on in
2.162 sqq. leads on to Three. [Addendum, originally on p. 623: I should have remarked on the similarity of the positions of Domitian in Four and Virro in Five in
relation to their courtiers and clients.]
What are the relative parts of the individual, the Roman |[18] community and
the human race in these later poems? Nine and Ten are almost exclusively concerned with the individual, though Ten places him in the setting of the whole
world. In Eleven the individual is related to the Roman tradition (77119) and the
present state of Roman society (1209, 1718 and indirectly throughout 13661).
In Twelve the first part concerns the individual, the second (on legacy-hunting)
society. Thirteen repeatedly insists on the commonness of such offences as fraud
and worse at Rome, but also points out (159 sqq.) that such depravity is ingrained
in the human race, though Juvenal regards it as a bizarre departure from essential
human nature. The avarice and other faults due to parental example affect the
Roman community as well as the individual (14.413, 702, 100, 14088). The latter part of Fifteen develops one element of Thirteen with reference to the whole
human race.
In conclusion it may be added that a broad distinction between the style of the
earlier and the later satires can be exemplified in various features. As has been
pointed out, in the later poems fewer of the exempla come from the recent past,
and there are more illustrations from Greek mythology and history and Roman
republican history; Book 4 contains no allusion to any concrete incident which
could provide a dating (see p. 1). The sentences tend to become longer and more
involved (see p. 36); conversely ellipse becomes less common. All these are features which fit in with a more meditative approach.
Juvenals View of Society and Morals

No attempt can be made here to provide a general literary theory of satire, but it
may nevertheless be helpful to select a few quotations from modern critical works

Society and Morals15

which will facilitate placing Juvenals writing in a wider context. We may begin
with some remarks by Hobbes (J. E. Spingarn Critical Essays of the Seventeenth
Century (1908) 2.545), who isolates three regions of poetry (court, city and country), three sorts (heroic, scommatic, pastoral), and two modes of representation
(narrative and dramatic); satire is classified as scommatic narrative dealing with
the city. The significance of the tie with the city is underlined by A. Kernan The
Cankered Muse (1959) 78 The scene of satire is always (a rash word) disorderly
and |[19] crowded, packed to the very point of bursting (with people) The scene
is equally choked with things The immediate effect is one of disorderly profusion. The sheer dirty weight of people and their vulgar possessions threatens to
overwhelm the world in the streets of Juvenals Rome It is no accident that
most satire is set in the city, particularly in the metropolis with a polyglot people.
The significance of the city setting of Juvenals satire is further discussed in the
introduction to Three, but it must be remarked that many of Kernans generalisations are based on a partial survey of the evidence, and the validity of this one
is much greater for Juvenals earlier than for his later poems. It may however be
accepted that it is in the city that the satirist generally finds the material which he
wishes to attack, and there can be no doubt about the historical reality of Juvenals
picture of the actual Urbs, with its fires, traffic, towering apartment-blocks, and
of many features of Roman life, the humiliations of clients, the arrogance of the
nouveaux riches, the nobles and women fighting in the amphitheatre; all these are
amply attested by other sources.
But if vices are to be attacked they must be demonstrated to be vices, i.e. there
must be some implicit or explicit basis of values; and if vices can be recognised,
so too necessarily can virtues. Somewhere in his dense knots of ugly flesh the
satiric author usually inserts a hint of an ideal which is either threatened with
destruction or is already dead Juvenal manages to refer in a variety of ways
to the sturdy independence and moral vigour of the old Romans of the republic
(Kernan 1011). It is natural that if vice is associated with the imperial city, virtue
should be linked with the republican country; the satirists moral code, which is
too traditional and too straightforward to be called a philosophy, suits his rural
background Metaphysics, elaborate ethics these are beyond the satirist. He
views life in social terms (the importance of this remark will become apparent in
the following discussion) and exhorts his audience to return to the ways of their
fathers, to live with fortitude, reason, chastity, honor, justice, simplicity, the virtues which make for the good life and the good society (Kernan 18). One should
not overemphasise, in opposition to this remark, the slightly increased reference
to philosophy in Juvenals later satires (see p. 13). |[20]
We may pass from this to a point made by Northrop Frye Anatomy of Criticism
(1957) 2234 Satires moral norms are relatively clear, and it assumes standards
against which the grotesque and absurd are measured The comic struggle of

16introduction

two societies, one normal and the other absurd, is reflected in its double focus
of morality and fantasy Two things then are essential to satire; one is wit or
humor founded on fantasy or a sense of the grotesque or absurd, the other is
an object of attack To attack anything, writer and audience must agree on its
undesirability, which means that the content of a great deal of satire founded on
national hatreds, snobbery, prejudice and personal pique goes out of date very
quickly (this last remark provides the justification for the detailed analysis of Roman attitudes which will be made presently). This relationship between the satirist, his audience and standards assumed is a crucial point developed by Kernan
212 The satirist sees the world as a battlefield between a definite, clearly understood good, which he represents, and an equally clear-cut evil. No ambiguities, no
doubts about himself, no sense of mystery trouble him, and he retains always his
monolithic certainty If the attack on vice is to be effective, the character who
delivers it must appear the moral opposite of the world he condemns; he must be
fervent, he must be horrified at what he sees, and he must be able to distinguish
between vice and virtue without any philosophical shillyshallying about what is
right and what is wrong?. The implication here is that we must expect a certain
simplification not only in the satirists projection of his opinions, but also in his
picture of the objective world; the most obvious tension results from the satirists
categorical contention that he is showing us the world and men as they actually
are Writers of epic, love poetry or pastoral are, the satirist assures us, merely
writing fiction. Only the satirist truly has for his subject quicquid agunt homines
But in no art form is the complexity of human existence so obviously scanted
(note this word) as in satire. The satirist is out to persuade us that vice is both ugly
and rampant, and in order to do so he deliberately distorts, excludes and slants
The satirist is caught between the conflicting necessities of the claim to truth and
the need to make vice appear as ugly and dangerous as possible (Kernan 23). |[21]
The threads of this argument are drawn together by Mack Yale Review 41, 1951,
84 The formal satiric poem contains always two layers. There is a thesis layer attacking vice and folly, elaborated with every kind of rhetorical device, and,
much briefer, (this is well illustrated in Ten) an antithesis layer illustrating or
implying a philosophy of rational control, usually embodied in some more or less
ideal norm like the Stoic vir bonus, the good plain man. The contours of a formal
verse satire, in other words, are not established entirely or even principally by a
poets rancorous sensibility; they are part of a fiction The bipartite structure
just mentioned apparently exists to reflect a more general fictive situation, the
warfare of good and evil viewed from the angle of social solidarity and
carried on in a context that asserts the primacy of moral decision Satire asserts
the validity and necessity of norms, systematic values and meanings that are contained by recognizable codes For the satirist especially, the establishment of
an authoritative ethos is imperative He must be accepted by his audience as

Society and Morals17

a fundamentally virtuous and tolerant man, who challenges the doings of other
men not whenever he happens to feel vindictive, but whenever they deserve it.
On this account the satirists apologia for his satire is one of the stock subjects
; the audience must be assured that its censor is a man of good will, who has
been, as it were, forced into action. Difficile est saturam non scribere. But projection of himself in this way by the satirist carries some drawbacks; the necessary
straightforwardness of his attacks on vice always opens the satirist to accusations
of being proud. As the satirist passes a succession of absolute moral judgments on
his fellow men, he inevitably becomes an egoistic monster bursting with his own
righteousness and completely devoid of any sympathy for his victims or doubts
about his own moral status (Kernan 26).
This background of general literary theory may illuminate the problem of evaluating the writings of Juvenal in a moral light. We must not, in my view, doubt
that fundamentally the historical Juvenal held the view of the world expounded
in his satires, but we must make allowances for certain artistic demands which influence the presentation; compare Mack 88 we may call [the satiric] speaker Pope
if we wish, but only if we remember that he always reveals himself as a character
in |[22] a drama, not as a man confiding in us. The first of these demands is a simplification of the material in the interests of art, which after all generally depends
on selection. Secondly we have to bear steadily in mind a pervasive element in
satire, humour, in Juvenals case mostly of a rather grim type, which both makes
him carry some attacks intended to be fundamentally serious far beyond the point
at which they cease, when soberly interpreted, to be convincing and appropriate,
and provokes him to poke fun at people and institutions of which his approval
seems implicit in the train of his argument (cf. p. 24). Only excessive and one-sided emphasis on this privilege of a satirist could claim that he held no beliefs at
all, and that everything he propounds comes from the mouth of a mask divorced
from the historical Juvenal and created for purely literary purposes. Actual irony,
which depends on temporary adoption of an outlook of which one disapproves
(see p. 33), is of course usually easily recognised and causes no difficulty.
It will follow from all this that if one wishes to evaluate Juvenal as a moralist,
first of all the actual kernel of what he intends as moral truth has to be extracted
from the simplification, humour and exaggeration of his presentation. Next his
sincerity has to be considered: did he really believe what he was saying? I believe
that basically he did, though not all his beliefs and their corollaries have been analysed by him into a logically coherent creed; the views which he expresses show
remarkable consistency over all his writing and, as will be demonstrated in a moment, are fully appropriate to a Roman in Juvenals historical situation. Thirdly,
it will be necessary to make an estimate of the profundity and value of Juvenals
moral ideas; an attempt will be made to do this at the end of this section.
In Juvenals day a number of philosophical creeds deduced precepts of moral-

18introduction

ity from their views of the workings of the universe; a Stoic would not commit
murder because in his view all men were related to each other and the deity by the
divinae particula aurae in the soul, and an Epicurean would not because remorse
for the crime would disturb his . What about Juvenal, who proclaims
his indifference to philosophy (13.1203; though see p. 13)? The material of his
satire is announced as vitia (1.87, 149), which he proposes to attack; the word of
|[23] course fundamentally means flaws rather than vices, and it will be seen
that, consistently with this, in Juvenal it conveys not so much a moral judgment
as the notion of variation from a norm. What specific features, in his view, mark
out behaviour as vitiosum? Clearly everything that he enumerates between 1.87
and 149 will be vitia. The central theme of this passage is the deification of money, which has two converse aspects, meanness and extravagance. Why are these
wrong? In some cases at least because they produce callousness in our relations to
other people (93, 1212, 1324). And why is that wrong? Because it upsets the social
order (10911); Rome is iniqua, unjust in rewarding and honouring criminals (30;
cf. 249, 12931). Status in Roman society was based on wealth and census, and
Juvenal sees society arranged in a hierarchy in which each rank has rights and duties; a slave has a right to expect warm clothing from his owner (note the prefix in
reddere 93, implying the giving of what is due), a poor client has a right to expect
his patron to invite him to a meal, a rich man has a duty neither to be mean nor
to indulge in that conspicuous consumption which the Romans called luxuria, a
freedman or a foreigner has a duty not to push himself ahead of his social betters
(social mobility is not a concept which Juvenal would have regarded with much
favour), the magistrates of the Roman people have a duty not to demean their
office (cf. 3.128, 8.148). The whole of society therefore is held together by officium,
doing ones appointed tasks (opificium; see Gelzer 66, Hellegouarch 152). This
covers such duties as the attendance of a client on a patron (3.126, 5.13, 10.45), the
patrons legal services to a client (7.107; but of course in Juvenals day this had
generally become a purely financial transaction, see ad loc.), and social obligations
such as attendance at a wedding (2.1324, 6.203). The neglect of officium produces
such results as attempts to cheat (1.978, 1236) and the spectacle of the gens togata forgetting the dignity of that characteristic garment (1.96).
Juvenals moral judgments are thus based not on any coherent and rationalised
philosophy, but on the code of behaviour which the Romans had built up for
themselves and which may best be studied in the Third Book of Ciceros De Officiis, in which the author cuts himself off from any Greek source and embarks on
independent discussion. A brief examination of the |[24] origin and nature of this
code will be helpful in providing a background to Juvenals thought.
The Roman historical tradition kept alive the memory of a time when the Roman territory consisted of a small farming community with a tiny urban centre,
surrounded by more powerful and civilised communities against which it had

Society and Morals19

to struggle for survival. The primitive life of those days left permanent traces in
the Latin language; to be washed then was to be elegant (lautus), bark (liber) was
a writing-material, commerce consisted of weighing out (impendere, expendere;
cf. on 1.40), time was not measured scientifically but related to the events of the
day (9.107, 10.339) and the year (9.69, 10.250, 14.254). In due course Rome came
to dominate the surrounding communities, and when the Romans sought an explanation for this fact they found one in the attachment of their ancestors to the
soil and their indifference to external trade and commerce; the physical exertion
involved in the former produced military virtues absent from communities with
an easier life, but eventually undermined by luxury imports. Here are a few quotations out of many to illustrate the theme. Posidonius (fr. 266 KiddEdelstein) ap.
Athen. 6.274a associates the qualities of the early Romans with
. Cicero Pro Rosc. Am. 39 declares that country life is maxime disiuncta a
cupiditate et cum OFFICIO coniuncta; ibid. 75 in urbe luxuries creatur, ex luxurie
exsistat avaritia necesse est, ex avaritia erumpat audacia, inde omnia scelera ac
maleficia gignuntur. Polybius 9.10.16 deplores the transfer of the booty of Syracuse in 211 B.C. to Rome as an abandonment of the simple life free of superfluities.
Similar attitudes are expressed by Juvenal. The old agricultural ideal of Rome is
praised directly or by implication in 2.724 and 127; 3.67; 6.287 sqq.; 11.78 sqq.
and 98 (in this poem it is noteworthy that he shows awareness that the values of
the past are not necessarily applicable to the present; see the introduction); 14.71
(here, quite the opposite, the exaltation of the utilis agris looks anachronistic), 161
sqq., 179 sqq.; dislike of imports and foreign influences is expressed or implied at
11.100, 117 (contrasted with 1246), 1478, 159 (see the note there); 14.89, 187; 6.287,
where the introduction of peregrini mores is ascribed to wealth.
Two results of this way of thinking ought to be noted. First, |[25] with regard
to the city of Rome itself, it produced a love-hatred relationship in some authors;
pride in the actual grandeur of the capital, which Juvenal nowhere expresses, had
to contend against consciousness of the remoteness of the life lived in it from
the rural ideal. Juvenal unflatteringly contrasts Rome with the simple life of little country towns (3.165 sqq., 190 sqq., 223 sqq.), but though he had at least a
pied--terre in one such little town, Aquinum, he deliberately makes the reader
aware that when Umbricius leaves Rome he himself stays behind in the metropolis which provides the material for his satire. Second, the rose-coloured spectacles
through which the past was viewed ruined historical perspective. We meet little
acknowledgement of the fact that the change in Romes role necessarily changed
the nature of the community and the city; Roman writers, convinced that moribus
antiquis res stat Romana virisque, often seem to wish to put the clock back without surrendering the time gained. Juvenal shows little understanding of economic
and social facts, and sees things in the over-simplified moral values of times now
obsolete (though, as already indicated, Eleven constitutes an exception here); the

20introduction

contrast between virtuous past and degenerate present is frequent in him. Sometimes we catch a certain hollowness; for example, Seneca De Ben. 1.10.1 and Ep.
97.1 expresses the opinion that human life always remains essentially the same,
but who declaims more often on degeneracy from the past than Seneca? Likewise
Juvenal lauds the religiosity of the old days (6.342 sqq.), but he himself often pokes
fun at it (as in the preceding lines). He is not hostile to the traditional modest
ceremonies (9.137, 12.87, 16.39), but the intellectual scepticism of his own day (cf.
2.1523) conflicts with his emotional ideal; unlike Polybius (6.56.6) he did not see
how religion was integral to early Roman society.
A corollary to this second consequence is that each generation of writers, in
order to shame their contemporaries, tended to put the beginning of corruption
later, and thus produced anachronisms which made the life-style of early Rome
seem to last far later than in fact it did, as if it really could be reconciled with an
imperial role. See how Juvenal regards the time of Julius Caesar as one of piety
(6.3435), and imagines that a family could live abundantly (saturabat 14.166) on
an allotment below subsistence level, whereas Polybius 31.25.37 and 26.9 |[26] and
Scipio ap. Macrob. Sat. 3.14.67 (fr. 30 ORF), not to mention the attacks on degeneracy to be found in the fragments of the speeches of the elder Cato, depict a
society already corrupt.
Paupertas Romana (6.295) in the first days of Rome was remembered also as
having tended to level out social distinctions; a Curius grew and boiled his own
vegetables (11.78). Accordingly Roman writers can look back to a time when the
links between different ranks in society were not material or mercenary but based
on moral obligations (officium; cf. Cic. De Off. 2.523), the chief manifestation of
which is the relationship between patron and client (cf. L. R. Taylor Party Politics
in the Age of Caesar (1949) 413); the meaning attached to this can best be seen
in a Greek writer, Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Ant. Rom. 2.910). The greatness
of a man, in the Roman view, is measured not by his wealth but by the number
of those who look to him for protection (cf. Cic. l.c. 6570); the house of a clarus
homo must be spacious to admit a crowd of men of all sorts, and it is discreditable
if it is not filled by such a crowd (ibid. 1.138). Even at the end of antiquity Lydus
De Magistr. 1.20 (referring to Juv. 5.110) says
,

<> . In return the clients afforded the patron such services as
testifying to his grandeur by escorting him on his public appearances (cf. Cic. Pro
Murena 6871, Q. Cicero (?) Comm. Pet. 348).
Juvenals claim is that the concept of officium is now dead; the longi agminis
officia escorting a praetor consists of mere hirelings (10.446), the relationship
is debased to a commercial one (5.13). In the old days the relationship between
patron and client would be a personal bond of amicitia (cf. Gelzer 66, Thes. ami

Society and Morals21

cus 1907.77); and, apart from a few very common words such as puer, pars, domus, longus, magnus, the most frequently occurring word in Juvenal is amicus (39
times). But on the majority of its occurrences in him the word is ironical, a suitable final stab to end a paragraph (1.146, 5.113 (cf. 108) and 173) or a refrain of complaint (3.87, 101, 107, 112, 116, 121; all ending the line). The modici amici of generous
Roman noblemen of |[27] former days (5.108) have now become viles amici (5.146).
What the nobles do now (nunc 1.95) is misguided; the way of the avi (ibid.) was
much better; and Rome should return to the mos maiorum. Patrons now think
that their obligations are satisfied by giving out a dole (sportula) at a standard rate
in their meritoria salutatio (Sen. Dial. 10.14.3); thereafter they are dives tibi, pauper
amicis (5.113), the dives avarus (7.30; cf. 90) whose characteristic is luxuriae sordes
(1.140). Luxuria (6.293; luxus 299) by breaking down the old paupertas Romana
and replacing it with divitiae molles (300) has created a gulf of bitterness between
rich and poor; see how paupertas, formerly an ideal, is now resented (3.126 sqq.).
Traditional liberalitas also has gone (14.235 sqq.); even sex is determined by cash
(9.38 sqq.). Different standards are applied to rich and poor (11.1768); Caesars
own table is iniqua (5.3).
Money also breaks up the traditional framework of society in that fortuna mutat genus, and upstarts, often freedmen, with the former rise above those who
possess only the latter, 1.245 (cf. 10.2256, if genuine), 37, 102; 3.3440, 72, 81
sqq., 1313, 1559 (1889); 7.14 (conversely others dissipate their property and sink
from one order to another, cf. 1.106, 11.42); though Juvenal represents Umbricius
as resenting it (3.155), this is inherent in the organisation of Roman society (cf.
p. 18) and is necessary for processus (1.39). These upstarts are often, like luxury
wares, foreign imports (3.83); thus Juvenal unites class and racial prejudice. His
xenophobia is striking but not indiscriminate. He respects the manly Spaniards,
one of whom, Martial, was his friend, and Gauls (8.116), and says nothing against
the Africans (ibid. 11720). These were races which contributed people but not
cultural influences to Rome, and on the contrary were themselves being Romanised (7.1479 and 214, 15.111). He reserves his venom for the Eastern provinces (the
East-West contrast, unflattering to the former, is prominent at 15.93 sqq.), which
had lively individual cultures and refused to submerge these in Roman culture,
indeed tried, in Juvenals view, to submerge the Romans in themselves. Such are
the Jews (3.1314, 6.5427, 14.96106) with their superstitions; they cast out Egeria
and the Camenae from their grove and make Romans despise their own laws in
favour of the Jewish Law (14.1001). Such also are the Egyptians (6.52241; 15 passim), |[28] some of whom, like Tiberius Julius Alexander (1.12930; perhaps also
Crispinus, if he was praefectus praetorio, though see on 4.32), defile characteristically Roman offices. Such above all are the Graeculi (3.78), a term which, as a result
of the conquests of Alexander, covered most of the inhabitants of the Near East,
and is contrasted with the Achaei at 3.61 (cf. Cic. Pro Flacco 646). Juvenal feels

22introduction

no animus against the distinguished figures of classical Greece (though he accuses

Herodotus of exaggeration 10.174), to whom he refers with honour on a number
of occasions (e.g. 10.49; Roman culture is even nostrae Athenae 15.110), but rather
against those who in his own day were making Rome itself Greek and destroying
the traditional Roman values (3.58125, 6.18599, 11.100; cf. 8.2256).
Thus Juvenals outlook is based on the picture which he, and other Romans,
had formed of the early days of the state; but his attachment to the past is sentimental and moral, tied to a view of social organisation, not political. Though his
remarks about Julius Caesar (10.1089) and Augustus (2.28 and 8.2413; cf. 5.34)
are unfriendly, and he seems to imply a good opinion of Caesars murderers, whose
tradition is represented as carried on by the Stoic opposition to the emperors, at
5.367, yet he makes no criticism, even indirect, of the imperial system. One will
however note his use of Roma libera at 8.244 to mean republican (cf. Tac. Ann.
1.4.2, 1.33.2, 2.82.2, 15.52.3; Wirzubski 160), and the respect for the senate expressed
at 11.29. 10.7781 is double-edged; on the one hand he seems to imply that the imperial system has depraved the plebs, on the other he criticises republican bribery.
The moral view taken by Juvenal of early Roman history is conditioned by the
moral code built up for themselves by the Romans. This code was a creation of the
aristocracy which with a few intermittent defeats manipulated what we call the
Roman republic. This aristocracy was perpetually divided within itself by factional
struggle, but it could generally be relied upon to keep up a united front against
pressure from the plebs, with the exception of those rogue aristocrats who deserted to the other side and made themselves into populares. The moral code of the
aristocrats laid down not only guide-lines for their relations with their peers, but
also an ethos of behaviour which would serve to overawe the plebs; thus Ciceros
De Officiis discusses not only |[29] fides but also the proper dignified gait (1.131),
not only ethics but etiquette (Brunt PBSR 43, 1975, 16 n. 46 relates this to Stoic emphasis on decorum). The very word chosen to summarise the code, gravitas (6.178;
cf. Cic. De Off. 1.103) denotes not a feeling inherent in the mind, but the quality
of weight, either that which keeps one firm, stable and serious (contrasted with
levitas Graecorum) or that which enables one to impose his authority on others.
See what falls under virtus at 14.109 sqq.; not any ethical quality, but the traditional
Roman sternness and frugalitas. At 8.146 sqq. what is criticised in the nobility is
abandonment of dignitas. Generally speaking, though Thirteen is an exception,
Juvenal is more interested in the external horrors of behaviour than in the internal
moral horrors of the mind.
Because of the nature of this code we begin to understand how some moral
values which to us seem topsy-turvy can be expressed or implied by Juvenal; the
problems presented by such passages are not to be smothered with generalities,
such as that Juvenal is a writer of little variety of tone and liable to use the force
of a steam-hammer to crack a nut (Duff), whereas Horace asks us to discriminate

Society and Morals23

between one type of fault and another. Noteworthy passages of this kind are 2.143,
where Gracchus appearance as a gladiator is counted worse than his homosexual
marriage (if Juvenal had in mind the inhumanity of the gladiatorial games, this
might not seem to present-day moral judgment an unjustified opinion; but that
is not what he had in mind), and 8.220, where Neros acting and composition of
poetry comes as a climax after his murders of his relatives; also 1.5562, where
the man who prostitutes his wife is put on a level with the young spendthrift who
drives himself, and 3.3057. One observes that those castigated at 2 and 8 l.c. are
representatives of old and noble families, a Domitius (and an emperor) and a
Sempronius (note proceres 2.121, clarus genere atque opibus vir 129; also maiorum
1.60). It is very obvious that Juvenal reserves his particular venom for the upper
classes, the Troiugenae (1.100, 8.56 and 1812, 11.95); in spite of a hint of sympathy
for their trials (which he attributes to their spinelessness at 4.153, though that passage shows respect for them) at 1.34, he feels that they, who should be the guardians of the moral code (cf. 8.20), have abandoned it and transgress it, degenerating
from their ancestors (maiores 8.146; 6.323 virtus natalibus |[30] aequa; present-day
Rome is ridiculous before the past 2.159) and starting off the corruption which
spreads through society (cf. the a fortiori form of expression at 2.65, 8.198, 6.617).
For the class of women envisaged in Six see p. 222; he voices objections to high
society ladies contracting liaisons with lower-class men and breaching not only
class but convention by participating in fencing and athletics.
The peoples reaction to all this is in some cases indifference (8.189), but they
are still capable of being shocked (2.67 populo mirante at one with the aristocratic
name Creticus) because they expect better. People still loved a Lord in the days of
Tiberius (Tac. Ann. 3.23.1), and the working-class Tory is not a modern invention;
see how the military tribune Subrius Flavus in accusing Nero shows exactly the
same scale of moral values as Juvenal (Tac. Ann. 15.67.2), odisse coepi postquam
parricida matris et uxoris, auriga et histrio et incendiarius exstitisti (this topic is
further discussed in the introduction to Eight). When Juvenal in these passages
attacks the misdemeanours of the nobility as if they were crimes, what he continually stresses is their public nature; 8.151 (though at least Lateranus restrains
himself while still in office), 194, 2056, fama 6.90, 2.1356 (publicity soon to be).
Similar stress is laid on publicity by Suet. Nero 22.2, SHA Commodus 12.12. It must
of course be remembered that in Juvenals day the old nobility was for the most
part either defunct or reduced to obscurity; of the noble families named in Eight,
a large proportion of the old nobility, this is true of virtually all after the reign of
Nero (cf. on 6.266; the list of Dio Cass. 61.17.45, referring to A.D. 59, is almost
equally anachronistic).
Juvenals normal method of argumentation then is not that of sustained rational analysis; what he does is to express and appeal to an attitude of mind rooted in
certain prejudices. We have no reason to doubt that he held these prejudices him-

24introduction

self (occasionally, as we have seen, he shows flickers of a deeper understanding,

but his strong emotional involvement and even a certain capacity for self-deception enable him to suppress these); this is not how our ancestors did things, native
Romans ought not to be outstripped by immigrants (why? Because that would alter the character of society. But perhaps the alteration would be an improvement;
such a notion is never even conceived |[31] by Juvenal). It is clear that the present
measures up very poorly to the past in his eyes, and he envisages little possibility
of change for the better (cf. 1.148). The degeneration of the present is often emphasised by the use of parody, which represents the present in the grand terms of
antiquity, or by diminutives stressing its puny quality, or by anti-climax; see e.g.
the Vergilian parodies at 2.99100, 5.45 and 138, 15.6571 (note pusillos). The dominance of the past over him (cf. on 8.198) is symptomatised by the way in which he
describes a reprehensible act at 14.50, dignum censoris ira, though there were no
longer any censors. It is a minor but significant point that he ignores the return
to fashion of the beard, which to him is a symbol of pristine virtue (on 4.103). He
holds that the satirist himself should be a moral person (4.106), but he strikes one
as a character with little capacity for self-examination (4.901 come ill from one
who declined to attack the living) and little human sympathy or understanding
for those who fall short of their own standards (though admittedly he attacks individuals less in themselves than as exempla of vices; see introduction to One). On
the other hand he does have genuine humanitarian feelings (see introduction to
Fifteen) and shows a degree (see on 11.152) of kindliness to slaves (14.16), provided that they are not upstart slaves (as 3.131, 5.6075). He represents himself as a
serious moralist and critic of society, not to be diverted by such topics as literary
theory which interest other satirists. Although every now and then he undercuts
his criticisms by a glint of humour directed against those who incorporate the virtues which he is preaching (see on 3.12, 14.41, 15.173; note the mockery of a Roman
institution at 10.34 sqq., and of the normal forms of devotion at 10.3545, where
it is rather inopportune), that is not to be taken to invalidate his central message
(cf. Seven introduction). He has plenty of the humour which stings, but little of
that which simply raises a laugh for light relief. He assumes his own rectitude to
give an objective depiction of vices; contrast how Horace Serm. 1.3.1920 admits
his own faults (though with an joke, minora for maiora). Juvenal
is interested only in the world external to himself, and as a preacher openly tells
the reader what to think (see such prejudicial epithets as demens 15.1, or the value-judgments conveyed by monstrum 4.2 and the scurrilous 1.131). Again we may
|[32] contrast how Horace develops away from direct preaching at the reader, and
lets his own faults as well as those of others emerge in self-depreciation which
allows us to laugh at him sometimes; one of his favourite techniques for achieving
these ends is the use of the personal dialogue form, which as we have seen has a
very limited application in Juvenal.

Society and Morals25

Granted that Juvenal regards himself as a serious moralist, and granted that he
sincerely believes in the remedies implicitly prescribed in his work, we must now
enquire whether he has impartially analysed the symptoms of the disease. It has
often been remarked that the almost unrelieved gloom of the picture of Roman
society presented by him contrasts oddly with the impression given by his contemporary, the younger Pliny. The question arises, did Pliny live in artificial isolation from the facts of life, or is Juvenal presenting a false picture? For though he
takes his exempla from the dead, the vices incorporated in them and attacked by
him are clearly represented as still prevalent while he is writing (see introduction
to One). If Juvenals picture is in any degree false, another question arises: is the
falsity conscious or not? One answer which could be given to these questions is
that Juvenal was so obsessed by the reign of Domitian that he could not admit any
amelioration under Trajan and Hadrian (see the anachronistic delator in 1.33). Alternatively we may suppose that Juvenal just as much as Pliny lived in a confined
world; perhaps he just did not know many praiseworthy people. Or again perhaps
he was capable of consciously twisting things and putting them in the blackest
possible light in order to reinforce the essential point of his message. Can he be
convicted of such misrepresentation? And if so, how?
There are three criteria which can be applied. Is he contradicted by other evidence (in which case we have to be sure that he knew the facts)? Is he contradicted by himself? Does he put things in such a way as to betray awareness of the
weakness of his case? Examples of all three can be found in his work, though the
following discussion must not be taken to imply that all Juvenals misrepresentations are deliberate.
Among the gallery of abominable women in Six one category consists of the
litigious (2425). But in Two a woman called Laronia, fed up with the hypocritical
denunciation of female |[33] immorality by homosexuals masquerading as philosophers and moralists, defends her sex; and Juvenal describes her (64) as vera ac
manifesta canentem and asks quid enim falsi Laronia?, giving explicit approval to
her words. Part of her defence (512) consists in a denial that women engage in
litigation; this is flatly contradictory of 6.2423. Which, if either, is correct? The
answer is that it could happen (Val. Max. 8.3 lists women who pleaded in the
courts), but was very rare. So 2.512 are in practice true, though not theoretically; 6.2423 are theoretically but not practically true. This gives us an insight into
Juvenals technique of denunciation; what he is doing, at any rate sometimes, is
portraying the exception as the rule (cf. on 7.213), as at 10.180 he applies the word
solitus to an action which Xerxes performed only once. This may be seen explicitly
with the athletic women of 2.53, who follow the litigious in Six also (246 sqq.); but
in Two he specifically says that they are paucae, whereas in Six he presents them
as notorious (though the contradiction is not formally perfect, since he does not
say that they are numerous). Note the form which he uses at 6.247 (cf. 252), that

26introduction

of the rhetorical question quis nescit? quis non vidit? This admirably suits his purpose here. A flat declaration everybody has seen invites contradiction; a question
hurries along his audience, whips up excitement at the expense of calm reflection,
makes individuals feel that they must not mark themselves off from the mass by
contradiction.
The passage about litigious women in Six shows another remarkable feature;
its brevity, which, I suggest, is due to the fact that Juvenal knew that he was being
unfair. A similar case is found in Seven, concerned with the hard life of writers
and professional men, poets (62 lines), historians (7), lawyers (45), rhetores (65),
grammatici (29). The disparity of the brevity of the discussion of historians (98
104) leaps to the eye; what is the reason for it? The reason is that it is not true, and
Juvenal knows it. Historians were not usually poor men; they were generally aristocratic, retired politicians and the like, not poor men in need of patronage (Livy
is the most striking exception to this). Why then does Juvenal include them at all?
Because he feels that he has to mention somebody to represent prose-writers, and
history was at this time the most prominent branch of prose.
Another passage of this poem shows consciousness of a |[34] weakness in the
argument. When Juvenal is discussing the poverty of rhetores, inevitable mention
is made of the most famous rhetor of the time, Quintilian. The trouble is that
Quintilian was a rich man, and Juvenal has to answer this objection which could
be raised against his argument. The only answer he can give is feeble (see on 186).
Yet another passage of the same poem illustrates how Juvenal uses stylistic devices, particularly that of the rhetorical question remarked above in 6.247, to cover
weakness in the argument. At 215 Palaemon is adduced as an instance of poverty
in a grammaticus due to underpayment: quis gremio Celadi doctique Palaemonis
adfert / quantum grammaticus meruit labor? Palaemon was indeed poor, but the
reason for his poverty was luxury (Suet. Gramm. 23); he had in fact a large income.
This last case introduces the question of distortion of historical fact. Here we
have to make some allowance for mere mistakes and minor inaccuracies (see on
3.116, 7.198, 8.146). But Four has a firm historical basis, and in it we see how first
the younger Acilius is probably introduced anachronistically to allow an attack on
Domitians cruelty (see on 94), and secondly is excused (misero 99) for fighting in
the arena under the plea of compulsion; yet at 8.195 sqq. Juvenal discounts even
compulsion as an excuse for noblemen appearing on the stage. Here he wants to
whiten Acilius because he wishes to blacken Domitian; there his sole object is to
blacken degenerate noblemen. Thus we see that at least some of the views which
Juvenal expresses are not to be taken as eternal verities, but are intended to arouse
particular emotional reactions in the reader in their individual contexts.
Another of the participants in the Cabinet meeting, Crispinus, is mentioned in
One with a prejudicial distortion. Juvenal describes him as verna Canopi (26), but
Martial tells us that in fact he came from Memphis (7.99); Juvenal has altered this

Society and Morals27

because Canopus was a by-word for depravity (6.84, 15.46). We note also possible
cases of deliberate misrepresentation at 4.2831, 323 and 77, and the attack on the
spinelessness of the nobility (4.1534) blurs the facts of Domitians death.
The point just made that the validity of Juvenals statements may be limited
to their immediate context can be further illustrated from Fifteen, which opens
with an attack on the Egyptians for their superstition, including their worship of
and |[35] consequent abstention from certain plants and vegetables. Juvenal then
describes an act of cannibalism due to Egyptian religious fanaticism, and finally
broadens the theme to an attack on mans inhumanity to man, expressing his
horror that such things can happen in modern times. Pythagoras would abhor
them; as a proof of his asceticism is mentioned the fact that he even abstained
from some vegetables (like the Egyptians, for religious reasons). So what indicated
superstition among the Egyptians is in the very same poem adduced as a proof of
the sanctity of Pythagoras. Juvenal is not concerned to evaluate such abstinence; it
is simply a topic which can be turned to whatever use is momentarily convenient.
Finally it may be noted that Juvenals account of the receipt of the sportula by
the nobles seems to involve suppressio veri in order to heighten the indignation
(see on 1.96).
The rhetorician can prove whatever he likes by framing his argument and
taking examples (cf. p. 31) to suit the theme of the moment. No doubt in utramque partem disputare is good training in the rhetorical school, but we are entitled
to demand that a denunciatory satirist should show moral consistency and not
. Of course many of Juvenals moral judgments
do still retain their validity, though it does not seem to me that he ever attains
the profundity of e.g. Pers. 3.38; but, as Garrod remarked (in the preface to the
Oxford Book of Latin Verse), he is no Isaiah, nor should his work be regarded as
an accurate portrait of his times. His satires deserve to be read not as the product
of a great and good intellect, but as the trenchant expression of a forceful and
sometimes wrongheaded or muddled personality (his declamation sometimes
leads him into inconsistency; see on 10.79 and 305, 14.57 and p. 63) and a masterly
writer. The understanding of such a personality may be assisted by some words
written about a quite different subject by J. Leclercq The Love of Learning and the
Desire for God (1961) 137 (of course not everything applies exactly to Juvenal).
Another outcome of the medieval monks classical formation is what might be
called literary exaggeration. It accounts for much in the ancients works and is
quite in keeping since these men are, so to speak, learned primitives. As primitivesand the word in this context has no pejorative connotationthey think
one thing at a time, experience one |[36] feeling at a time, but they think and feel
intensely Men of God like St Bernard can, within a few days, express in their
letters completely different feelings Each time they are really expressing what
they feel about a particular matter. They can do so without contradicting them-

28introduction

selves, without their general attitude toward the particular correspondent having
changed Even the most refined and best trained in the control of their instincts
retain to some degree this simplicity which lends their inner attitudes a quality
that is direct and absolute: on every occasion their soul expresses itself whole and
undivided In some cases, as for instance St Bernards invectives in his sermons
and treatises against the luxury of prelates, a comparison between them and more
precise statements found in the same Bernards epistles warrants the conclusion
that the violence and universality of his reproaches do not correspond to the actual situation. What they do betray is nothing more than burning zeal for Church
reform which devours Bernard The holiest are the ones who exaggerate the
most because their zeal is the most ardent Literary exaggerations or powerful
images illustrate the facts presented and fiction serves to express an idea that is
true. The ancients knew how to discover, under these picturesque and more or less
fictitious details, the idea that really matters Exaggerating is not, in such cases,
lying; it is using hyperbole to make what one wants to say more unmistakable.
Juvenals Style

The pervasive influence of rhetoric and the schools of declamation on Silver Latin literature is a commonplace, and nowhere is it more pronounced than in the
writings of Juvenal. It is significant that the first lines of his first poem consist of
four rhetorical questions, the first with an ellipse and the last two connected by an
anaphora; one notes too how 1.2230 are dominated by anaphora and 3078 and
8795 by rhetorical questions and anaphora, all this in a passage stressing ira and
indignatio. In Juvenals day poets were described by the same epithets as orators:
facundus (7.35), disertus (7.31). A training in rhetoric could be regarded as a preparation for writing poetry (1.15; this retains its significance even if Juvenal himself
is |[37] being ironical about the notion). At 15.110 the idea of philosophy slips into
that of culture in general, and that into rhetoric (11112).
Some of the implications of the term rhetoric deserve a brief analysis. In
essence it means the art of persuading an audience by means of certain formal
techniques; the orator keeps some distance between his audience and himself and
makes a one-sided impact on it. In these respects, and in the maintenance of artistic formality, oratory is clearly distinguished from sermo, conversation. Literary satire is closely related to both [judicial rhetoric and demonstrative orations
devoted to censure and condemnation]. The satirist, like the orator, is entering a
protest in public, addressing an audience with a view to changing its attitudes and
disturbing its complacency. In satires with a strong framework of logic and argument, or in which the author offers an apologia for his muse and career, elements
of judicial oratory, especially techniques of proof and refutation, may be relevant.
Besides vituperatio, the attack on wicked and unworthy individuals, satire will

Style29

also adopt loftier rhetorical ends: dissuasion from vice and folly, and praise of
those whose example deserves to be followed (P. Dixon Rhetoric (1971) 534). The
reservation must be entered that this lays too much stress on the link with judicial
oratory, in which the element of docere is prominent; in the case of Juvenal at any
rate we must think more of movere, the side of the orators art particularly associated with the genus grande (the third element of oratory is delectatio, which is
certainly present in Juvenal but is better not considered from the rhetorical angle).
The rhetorical manner must have come instinctively to Juvenal because of the
historical circumstances of his time and his own education (1.1517), but, as the
above quotation indicates, it also brings certain advantages for the type of poetry
which he wished to write. For example, anaphora hammers home an emphasised
word where a copulative conjunction would not. Rhetorical questions imply and
exploit agreement between speaker and audience, and involve the listeners, from
whom in theory if not in fact an answer is demanded, in a way in which plain
statements do not. This is especially clear when the questions are introduced by an
(7 times) or anne (5 times; Juvenal never uses this word otherwise), which being
in origin |[38] particles that introduce alternatives imply a dramatic ellipse <can I
be mistaken>, or ?
The influence of rhetoric may appear in three areas: subject-matter, composition and expression (inventio, dispositio, elocutio). Some satires can be classified
in rhetorical terms (Five and Six are dissuasiones, ), but none
can be treated in its entirety as a mere declamation on a fixed theme (Eight may
be the nearest approach, though perhaps Six, the rhetorical analogies of which are
little known, should be taken into account), and Juvenal shows contempt for some
of the stock themes at 7.16870 (cf. 1.1517). But within the complete satires certain
features present clear analogies to recognised rhetorical techniques of inventio.
Rhetoricians had classified the means of proving a point into inartificialia
(documents, witnesses etc.) and artificialia, covering signa (e.g. blood as a sign of
murder), exempla (of which more in a moment) and argumenta. The last of these
embraces ratiocinatio (logical drawing of inferences in syllogistic form) and loci
(definitions of the nature and properties of people and things and the meaning
of words), which may be widened into loci communes when not tied to the circumstances of a particular case; in fact these loci communes are less often used for
proof than for amplificatio, and are associated with the genus grande. It is not hard
to recognise in Juvenal the locus de saeculo, the corruption of the times, which can
embrace denunciations of women and what the Romans called luxuria, as well as
praise of the maiores, or the locus de divitiis, which covers attacks on wealth and
greed, as well as praise of paupertas. These of course are themes which could be relied upon to produce a strong emotional response in an audience of a conservative
cast of mind, as most Romans tended to be. The rhetoricians found such subjects
a fertile field because of the way in which the Romans in general regarded their

30introduction

historical tradition (see pp. 18 sqq.), and the emphasis which rhetoricians laid on
them redoubled the influence of this mode of thought.
When Juvenal wishes to prove a point, he sometimes uses argumenta (e.g. a
fortiori 1.117 sqq., 2.65 (q.v.), 4.28, 6.617, 8.198, 13.199 sqq.; or dilemma, for which
see Lausberg pp. 21617 and Ad Herenn. 2.38, 4.52, Cic. De Inv. 1.83, at 6.200 sqq.),
but much more often bases his proof on exempla (for |[39] which see Lausberg 227
sqq., Volkmann 233 sqq.). Ten for example (a poem much influenced by Valerius
Maximus manual of exempla) is structured in such a way that the various ideals
are set up (11417, 13342, 16870, 1738, 1889; 28992; also 235) and are then
refuted by a sed or tamen introducing Juvenals consideration of the other side of
these exempla or his contrary exempla. Eight also largely revolves around exempla
(184; the term also at 14.322), some of them historical classics, others from the
recent past (rather like the exempla which Horaces father used, Serm. 1.4.106; the
term covers both types, ibid. 2.3.103). The method may be studied in 14.137; Juvenal begins with a general proposition (13), then illustrates this by exempla (a) 45
(b) 614 (c) 1524 (d) 2530, after which the original general statement is resumed
(317) and now taken as established, so that conclusions can be drawn from it (igi
tur 38). The structure of 14.70106 is similar. Compare Sen. Contr. 1.8.10, where
Blandus puts forward the general proposition militia tibi supervacua est, then the
tractatio, followed by hic exempla. The use of such exempla is fully discussed by
Quintil. 5.11, cf. 12.2.2930 quantum Graeci praeceptis valent, tantum Romani
exemplis and 12.4 (see Austins notes), where he again remarks that exempla are a
way of giving praecepta (cf. Sen. Dial. 6.2.1). Martial 6.19 ridicules the use of this
high-flown technique in a speech on a humble subject. Martials own use of exempla is discussed by Nordh Eranos 52, 1954, from whom I add two quotations: (p.
229) so, as fixed patterns, the principal characters of the high national tradition
were organised into an easily manageable collection of symbols. How well this
suits the satirical poet, who, seeking the typical and the broadly human, needs
some absolute points to which he can place his personages in relation, characterizing them by similarity, dissimilarity and contrast! In Juvenal this is very conspicuous (a point illustrated from 14.2379). The unexpected contrast, dispassionately
confronting two psychological spheres opposite to each other, qualifies the amor
divitiarum in a most impressive way; (p. 237) Martial adds unsympathetic epithets to his exempla, but it is significative that in Juvenal, who seems to take his
characters in earnest, these attributes are practically lacking. The only examples
are 5.57 Tulli pugnacis and 11.50 durumque Catonem (cf. Litchfield HSCP
25, 1914, 67). |[40]
The use of these exempla by a satiric poet, then, is much the same as the use of
mythology in other genres; it provides a vivid and concrete code embodied in figures whose familiar associations leap readily to the mind. In rhetoric these figures
will mostly be the heroes and villains of history (and this chimes in with Juvenals

Style31

general tendency to direct his gaze towards the past), but satirists can also use
characters who are contemporary or belong to the recent past (cf. Juv. 8.184 and
Hor. Serm. 2.3.103, 1.4.106 adduced above; in rhetoric Cic. Part. Or. 96). Juvenal
of course feels that the former type is debarred to him (1.15071; see the introduction); of the latter his gallery seems to be mainly stocked from the vivid and varied
times of Nero. He is so steeped in the past that he does not hesitate to speak of the
dead as if they were still alive (3.99 and 238, 7.80 and 186, 8.146 sqq., 10.224?, 13.157,
14.306; other examples below in the discussion of apostrophe).
The weakness of the device is that the orator cannot always get his exempla to
fit his case (and Juvenal admits this in one instance at 7.189); and one cannot but
feel that some of the force of Seven and Ten (see introductions) is impaired by
defects in the exempla selected. Rhetoricians in fact did not scruple to improve
on history (on 6.265, 8.246, 15.114). The other difficulty is that it is usually possible
to consider the exempla chosen in different lights, or to produce equally valid
exempla to prove the exact opposite (as remarked above in the case of Ten); the
employer of such exempla is in the position of an orator arguing one side of a case
and ignoring the contrary evidence. In general of course orators cannot afford
to do this; they have to anticipate (occupare) the arguments of the other side (cf.
7.156), and in order to knock them down they often introduce these in the form
of a subiectio (Lausberg p. 381; cf. Hendrickson CP 23, 1928, 1027), in many cases
signalled by the characteristic at (enim). Juvenal also adopts this form in a number of cases (1.150, 8.163, cf. 5.156, 11.162; 6.634; 6.142, 7.188; 6.161, 13.174; with sed
2.70, 6.136, 7.105, 10.324; with at only 13.180). The interlocutor is often a striking
formal characteristic of satire (Pers. 1.44), but in general Juvenal puts forward his
point of view with a conviction that makes few concessions to any opposition. His
satires, quite unlike the easy informal sermo of Horace, have little of the ebb and
flow of an argument |[41] conducted in dialogue, and, apart from a minor stretch
at 16.17 sqq. and a passage with a particular point (1.150 sqq.; see the introduction), this form appears only in Nine; it should however be noted how at 14.1534
the miser argues with the poet and in 21055 the poet argues with him, at 2245
anticipating an objection by him. Richard Lanham observes that the primary
assumption of rhetorical form is that all arguments are or can be polar opposites
and it does violence to any issue that falls into the both-and rather than the
either-or category. It can offer a form for argument, that is, but not for compromise (Handlist of Rhetorical Terms p. 113) (P. Dixon o.c. 6970). [Addendum,
originally on p. 623: On exempla see Sage Historia 28, 1979, 206.]
Secondly, composition. Juvenals satires differ very widely from each other in
respect of arrangement, but some are set out in a way which resembles that of a
speech; in particular Five, Eight, Ten, and, so far as we can judge, Sixteen (see
the introductions). Juvenal sometimes indicates in the first person the path of his
argument (3.589 properabo fateri, though Juvenal is not formally the speaker;

32introduction

10.273 festino et transeo; 15.27 nos referemus; 16.7 tractemus primum, 35

nunc notemus) or does so with nunc (4.11 sed nunc de ) combined with an
imperative (3.268 respice nunc, 7.36 accipe nunc, 10.269 aspice nunc, 11.64 nunc
audi; cf. the hortative subjunctive in 16.35 quoted above). In these places Juvenal is
openly presenting arguments to the reader; nothing could be more unlike the way
in which Horace imperceptibly glides from one topic to another.
It has often been remarked that the way in which literature was recited in imperial Rome encouraged concentration on small-scale effects, so that the architectural economy of the proportion between the parts and the whole suffers in Silver
Latin literature; parts may be developed into digressions (deverticulum 15.72, q.v.)
out of scale with their intrinsic importance and relevance. This certainly happens
to a considerable extent in Juvenal; see for instance 2.1029 and 1438; 12.10210,
not justified by its artistic purpose; 14.2413, 5.13746; 15.6571, again not justified by artistic purpose, and 847. He is liable to introduce incidental points not
relevant to the main stream of his argument (1.12931, 4.1115, 7.88 sqq., 9.489),
and he has allowed himself by superimposed layers of elaboration to obscure the
structure which he had once intended for Six. I shall |[42] often have to remark
that it would be advisable to mark parentheses where current texts do not. It must
however be remembered that such digressions may have a successful artistic role,
as in Thirteen. One must also note that sometimes the declamation goes just too
far and culminates in an unreal point (see on 10.271, 307).
Conversely it is rare to find such disproportionately short developments as
6.2425 and 7.98104 (which show a bad conscience about the validity of the argument) or 6.13641 (perhaps due to textual mutilation).
Finally, and most important, the expression. Attention has already been drawn
to those modes of speech which excite and exploit the emotions of the audience,
e.g. rhetorical questions (Quintil. 9.2.616; often answered with nempe) and figures of speech depending on repetition of words, such as anaphora. Here are a
few more illustrations. Eight begins with 15 lines of rhetorical questions (cf. 3.81
sqq.); rhetorical questions and anaphora are combined at 1.778, 2.1278, 5.129
30, 10.2789; anaphora is accumulated 3.1979, 7.229 sqq. Other figures depending
on repetition of words are anadiplosis or reduplicatio (6.345, 7.21314, 8.15960;
2.1356, 5.11213, 6.1667 and 27980, 8.1478, all with the last word of a line and
the first word of the next); geminatio or epanalepsis (5.133, 9.678, 10.3656, 12.48,
6.3935); and redditio (9.82, where 81 also adapts a rhetorical figure, 3.2089, 5.14
15; at 3.1667, 6.21213 and 4578 redditio is combined with anaphora). At 6.56971
we see polyptoton (cf. 7.1523), at 6.1516 reduplicatio combined with anaphora, at
2.53 epiphora (the repetition of paucae at the end of successive clauses; cf. 6.4834
et caedit), at 15.160 sqq. polyptoton with rhetorical questions.
The other figure of speech which should be noted is ellipse, which clearly gives
an aura of the spoken rather than the written word (as at 6.O.27 in lively conver-

Style33

sation). Juvenal uses this to impart liveliness (e.g. 3.140; in rhetorical questions 1.1,
6.193, 3.93, cf. 1.879 and 301, 5.810, 7.199 where it is combined with anaphora
or near-anaphora, 4.235 where it is combined with apostrophe and polyptoton,
6.6412 where it is combined with apostrophe and geminatio; linked with an exclamation 12.24, as punctuated by me; in painting vivid scenes 2.119, 3.21314 and
250, 5.25). |[43]
Of the figures of thought rhetorical questions have already been mentioned.
With them may be linked exclamations, in which the speakers emotion (usually
in Juvenals case indignation) seems to overflow (e.g. 5.1334, 6.31719, 10.1579),
and apostrophe (Quintil. 9.2.38, 9.3.246). This latter is a highly emotional device
which gives life to the inanimate (2.37 lex Iulia, 5.136 o nummi) and brings us into
the actual presence of and contact with men (e.g. 2.66 and 77, 7.98, 14.267, probably 10.294), even the dead (6.167, 7.219, 8.39 and 56, 8.231 and doubtless Crispinus
4.24; compare how Cicero addresses Clodius, Lucullus and Crassus in Paradoxes
57, this being a work which attempts to clothe philosophical disputation in oratorical form, and see above on exempla). Of course it must be remembered that,
particularly in Silver Latin poetry, this figure may be used merely for metrical
convenience, as at 6.466, 7.205, 10.125. A special type of apostrophe is the ironical
permissio, i (nunc) et (see on 10.166). Irony itself (Quintil. 9.2.44 sqq.) relies on
concessio (exemplified by esto at 8.164 and in the womans words at 6.222), the
adoption of the opponents scale of values in order to criticise them by the mockery involved in reductio ad absurdum. Irony, which means literally dissimulation,
is the systematic use of double meaning. It also assumes a double audience, one
that is deceived by the surface meaning of the words, and another that catches
the hidden sense and laughs with the deceiver at the expense of the deceived. This
usually involves a persona (literally, a mask), or fictional character assumed by the
satirist (M. Hodgart Satire (1969) 130). In Juvenal it becomes more frequent in
the Democritean Book 4 and the partly Democritean 5 (see for example 12.1217
and the ironical exclamation at 15.10). Some Juvenalian cases are labelled by en
(on 2.72), sane, nimirum, scilicet. With irony we may link paradox and oxymoron
(e.g. 1.57 and 140, 4.102, 5.59, 8.94 and 107 and 187, 11.3, 14.120 and see on 4.116).
Hyperbole confronts the audience with an exaggeration which they know to be
such, but the impression of size prevents them from calculating the exact amount
of truth involved (this has become familiar in modern times as the technique of
the big lie); instances in Juvenal are 3.311, 14.28 and 276 (see also on 10.80).
A special word is due to the place of antithesis. This is a |[44] highly cerebral figure, and comes as a timely reminder that those arguing a case cannot rely solely on
exciting the emotions of their hearers, but also have to clarify the issues. In Juvenal, in conformity with general Latin idiom, antithesis is frequently reinforced by
asyndeton (e.g. 6.94102); I shall often have to point out the necessity of punctuating with a colon in order to bring out the relationship of statements to each other.

34introduction

As for the notorious sententiae (8.125, where Juvenal shows awareness that they
are not always plausible, and 14.205), with their brilliant and often paradoxical
concision these are meant to carry overwhelming conviction; and Juvenal is indeed conspicuous for the number of aphorisms which he has bestowed on posterity. It is noticeable that, unlike Horace, he prefers to convey pithy wisdom in
sententiae rather than in proverbial expressions.
Finally a few miscellaneous features can be linked with the rhetorical manner:
the introduction, often abrupt, of many snatches of vivid conversation in direct
speech (sermocinatio; see on 3.187, 6.O.27), the praeteritio with transeo 6.602,
10.273, the closing of paragraphs with a resounding epiphonema (2.170, 6.626,
10.187; cf. Quintil. 8.5.11).
It will have been noticed that some of the features discussed above are specifically linked with the genus grande, and when we pass from the influence of rhetoric on Juvenals style to consideration of its general nature and impact, elevation is
in fact its most remarkable characteristic. One technique used by him with striking frequency to impart ornatus (Quintil. 8.6.60) is that of substituting an allusive
periphrasis for a proper name; this brings his style into relationship with those
genres in which doctrina is at home (which do not usually include satire). These
periphrases sometimes do not seem to have any special function closely related to
the context; e.g. generum Cereris 10.112 (= Plutonem) merely adds a general touch
of grim humour, and similarly 16.6 (archness), 5.45, 12.4. But usually the flowery
nature of this feature has a point: e.g. 7.25 (with a metonymy on top of the periphrasis) addressed to a poet, and likewise 7.64; 8.253 an equal in office and greater
in social standing, but yet an inferior general; 6.661 the husband like Mithridates
may harden himself against poison, but will in the end be overcome by the sword
used by his own kin (but ter here is purely literary |[45] embellishment); 11.61 an
allusive epic periphrasis in the humorous epic context (but again 63, which Heinrich wished to delete, is a purely literary floscule), and similarly 13.43, and 7980
(cf. also on 4.98). Likewise with periphrases by relative clauses: 3.118 a foreigner
from an outlandish city; 3.1389 and 8.2645 glorious deeds with a contrast in the
context; 15.56 the glories of Thebes contrasted with the statue of an ape.
Juvenals choice of diction, like his handling of metre, shows a wide range,
matched to the wide range of effects which he wishes to obtain; see for instance the
juxtaposition of the grand induperator and the lowly gluttio (with which one may
compare the onomatopoeiac grunnio 15.22) at 4.289, with the undignified ructo
31. His vocabulary however seems to become rather less rich as his work progresses, to judge by the decrease in the percentage of hapax legomena (Dubrocard Ann.
Fac. des Lettres, Nice, 1970, 131).
It is natural that in dealing with vitia he has to introduce a number of sordid
words, and not just neutrally sordid, but chosen to convey repulsion, e.g. effunderet offas at 2.33 following the neutral vulvam 32 (also at 6.129); one may note

Style35

how he dwells on the repulsive at 10.1915, 15.548. It is however noticeable that

he does not use the grossest sexual terms such as futuere, cunnus, mentula which
we meet in Martial and even in Horaces Sermones; his grander and less earthy
style prefers to use either neutral anatomical terms such as coitus (10.204), inguen
(passim; 6.370 shows the anatomical use), testiculi (11.157; anatomical 6.372), or
euphemisms (e.g. facere 7.240, omnia 6.O.2, ludo 6.O.1 and 7.239), often based
either on metaphor (2.10 fossa, 9.456 fodere, 6.311 equito, 6.373b follis and cicer,
10.223 exsorbeo) or on synecdoche (3.134 palpito, 6.37 latus and anhelo, 3.112 resupino, 9.26 and 10.224 inclino, 9.34 and 10.205 nervus, 1.39 vesica, 9.59 lumbi). The
euphemisms of 6.O.6 are noteworthy, though not yet fully explained. Instead of
masturbari we find praeputia ducere 6.238, instead of paedicare in a brutal question of gross obscenity meant as a sharp shock he writes agere intra viscera penem
9.43; though the Romans in a formal context did find penis offensive (cf. Cic. Ad
Fam. 9.22.2 and the comments of Fronto p. 1467 on Sall. Cat. 14.2), it can be a
purely neutral anatomical term (6.337 the male as opposed to the female in a witty
sneer). Almost the only essentially gross |[46] physical word used by Juvenal is
podex (2.12; hirnea at 6.326, q.v., is not such), though even that is employed by
the physician Cassius Felix quoted on 2.13. Likewise for the bodily functions he
usually employs neutral words (with the exception of meiere 1.131).
Apart from this the vulgar element in his diction is not pronounced. He has
the childish papas 6.633 and a few animal names more at home in the farmyard
(iumentum 4.5, q.v.; scrofa 12.73 and 6.177; caballus 3.118, 10.60, 11.195, all times
evidently for literary effect). In a few cases slightly undignified words are used for
special effect (5.23, 14.43, 15.66). Abundant use is made of diminutives (see index
s.v.) with the wide range of effects that this suffix permits, sometimes because
the diminutive was becoming established as the usual form (8.5 auricula), sometimes for metrical convenience (3.95 palliolum, 10.334 flammeolum), sometimes
genuinely to indicate size, but usually to imply affection (6.105 Sergiolus) or contempt (7.4 balneolum). It will be noted that Juvenal also makes considerable use
of diminutive adjectives (see on 6.425), which are rare in poetry. One must also
count as alien to formal diction, which only permits a few stylistically elevated imports suitable for giving an exotic air to their context, his use of humdrum Greek
words (even with a Greek inflection 5.121), nearly always used contemptuously
(e.g. 3.678; 11.27 is a Greek phrase quoted with respect, a unique exception); Juvenal regarded such Grecisms as a vulgar importation (3.63). At 14.196 in Lucilian
style he employs a barbarian word.
His satires then are on the whole decidedly less colloquial than those of Horace
(and this is only partly because he represents fewer conversations). On the other
hand the elevated element in his diction is pronounced; e.g. primores 15.40, proceres 4.73 and elsewhere, terga fugae praestare 15.75 instead of praebere or dare,
tempestas 4.140, 6.26, 7.2, perhibent 4.17, Scipiades 2.154, the humorously dignified

36introduction

mariscae in place of the vulgar ficus 2.13. Such grandness often ironically through
parody sets off the failings which he is attacking. He has some noteworthy grand
morphological archaisms (see on 4.29). More striking however is the general level
of elevation maintained in a passage like 10.13367, with the emotional o in 157 and
159 and induperator in 138 to sneer at pretension, a level abased only |[47] occasionally (Subura 156, cliens 161); or take 10.34666, with the irony in 3545. This is
not sermones repentes per humum, but satire written in the grand style, the
, which paints in striking colours, plays on the emotions, inflates (and
often punctures) its subject-matter.
The sentence-construction shows the same wide range of effects. See how
Umbricius, who presents himself as a tragic figure, starts off in a prologue of
remarkable stylistic elevation with a long sentence 3.218, and then sums it up in
the following two-word sentence cedamus patria, which drops in solemn, resolute
tones from his mouth. When required, Juvenal writes such brief, even elliptical
sentences as 1.879; on the other hand we meet constructions of such length and
syntactical complexity as 1.309 (which is preceded by a sentence of 8 lines),
5261 and 10916 (the last shows how such sentences are suited to express abstract
thought and logical analysis).
But such sentences are not typical, and indeed it would be hard to produce
anything comparable from the rest of Book 1; clearly these three instances are
tailored to the expository nature of the first poem. Satire 6 (Book 2) begins with
a , a 10-line sentence, though not syntactically complex; one
may compare the 7-line sentence already alluded to with which Umbricius
begins (3.218). In this the main clause is postponed until 24 to build up the
dramatic effect; Umbricius, to avoid anti-climax, does not commence with his
announcement of intention, but with his reasons. This sentence, like 6.110, is
distinguished by cumulation with anaphora; a succession of co-ordinate units is
suitable for expression of emotions and the movement of thought from one unit
to another.
Books 2 and 3 occasionally show other cases of long and/or complex sentences,
but it is noticeable that the number of such rises in the more meditative Books
4 and 5. It is here that we encounter the longest sentence in Juvenal (15.14758,
structured round a series of syntactically parallel infinitives); here too we meet
long sentences of the more intellectual type, generally avoided in the earlier books,
in which the writer leads up to the main clause by a series of subordinate clauses,
an order which, by producing suspense and climax, emphasises the unity of a
wide-ranging thought. Examples are 13.13542, 14.23543 |[48] (where of course
it might be argued that quarum 238 introduces an independent thought-unit). If
the complex sentences to which I have referred be perused, it will be remarked
how seldom the connections within them are of the copulative type, and what a
strong preference Juvenal has for the more rhetorical methods of connection by

Metre37

anaphora and asyndeton.

The final characteristic of Juvenals writing which deserves attention is his frequent verbosity, which in the sphere of diction corresponds to his digressions
in the sphere of composition. Of course it is quite common to convey ones full
meaning by a succession of co-ordinate units, each, like a layer of paint, adding something to the meaning; this is the characteristic method of Vergil (see
for instance Aen. 2.21219, 3.18), and nobody would think of criticising similar
examples in Juvenal, e.g. 3.268, 4954 (where a statement is made, then its converse, then, in adversative asyndeton, the original statement again in the form of
a sententia with a concrete exemplum), 13.2404 (a slightly compressed general
statement, a figurative but concrete and vivid paraphrase, then an explicit epexegesis), 14.479 (which comes to a climax). But sometimes Juvenal should certainly
have cut down. One noteworthy case in which he goes on for too long is at 8.124
et iaculum et galeam (see ad loc.), with which one may compare the unnecessarily
long lists at 2.248 and 1456, 9.224, 10.1336 and 2206 (perhaps interpolation
is partly responsible here). 5.63 repeats 62, and 689 and 936 are verbose and
repetitive (978 too, which are concerned with captatio, are not directly relevant
here). At 2.1047 the repetition adds little, even if there is interpolation; the same
may be said of 6.55764. 9.467, 13.18990, 15.478 are verbose in expression, and
the accumulation of detail at 14.12733 is wearisome. Even where abundance has a
literary point, as at 12.627, it cannot always be said to succeed. Sometimes we find
Juvenal turning a thought round and round until finally as a climax he formulates
it in a sententia; 8.1214 (signalled as such by himself), 1647 (Quintil. 2.4.31 qui
dam sententiarum gratia verbosissimos locos arcessunt, cum ex locis debeat nasci
sententia; this one arises from the locus de indulgentia), 7.13945 and 194201,
13.12734.
| [ 49 ]

Juvenals Metre

This section is not intended to provide a complete repository of facts about the
metrical practice of Juvenal, but simply to pick out some facets of particular significance for the general character of his versification, and to illustrate this by
comparison with Vergil, Horaces Satires, Persius, and contemporary epic (Statius
and Silius). In round figures Juvenal has 3600 hexameters, Horace Satires 2100,
Persius 650, Vergil 12850, Silius 12300, Statius 14250. It should be remembered that
metrical statistics given in brief form can seldom be exact; they may be distorted
by (as in Juvenal) the presence of spurious verses and doubts whether a monosyllable is independent or part of a word-group, whether elision of neque should
really count as such, what exactly constitutes an acceptable caesura, the quantity
of -o in elision, etc.
The central fact about the verse technique of Juvenal is that it is very different

38introduction

from that used by Horace in his Satires. In keeping with the character of his work,
Horace evolved an informal, conversational type of line in which the words seem
to slip into a loose, artless rhythm, ignoring the refined metrical canons of formal verse. Juvenals satire however is not conversational, but declamatory; as the
thought seeks to rouse an emotional response in the reader, so too the metre has a
grander, more sweeping character than in Horace. In this way the general nature
of Juvenals verse is really more influenced by Vergil; but it differs from Vergil and
comes closer to contemporary epic in eschewing certain licences employed from
time to time by Vergil, such as hypermetric lines (one in Horace (1.4.96), none in
Persius, Silius or Statius) and synizesis (see on 3.76 and 13.225). On the other hand
Juvenal has a much wider range of effects than Silius and Statius.
1. SPONDAIC LINES
Horace has none such in his Satires (1.3.131 is not such; there is one at AP 467),
Persius only 1.95 in parody, but Juvenal makes much use of this feature of elevated
poetry, which was rare even in the epic of his day; Statius (7 cases) and Silius (6)
limit its |[50] use to proper names and Greek words. Juvenal has 34 (counting 15.18
but not 6.156) such lines, the highest proportion in any Latin poet except Catullus
and the author of the Ciris. With two exceptions (3.273, 5.38) Juvenal keeps these
endings within strict limits; they are preceded by a dactyl in the fourth foot, and
they consist of a trisyllable (preceded by a monosyllable, which is a rare rhythm in
previous writers, or (twice, 6.246 and 14.239) a quadrisyllable), or a quadrisyllable.
Sometimes they are intended to give deliberate elevation (2.145, 5.38, 10.151), but
more often it is clear that Juvenal saw in them an effective means of heightening
his sarcasm. Thus the line may end with a proper name or a Greek word, but,
contrary to epic usage, a bathetically undignified one (3.120, a contemptuous Grecising rhythm for the contemptible Greek; 4.53; 6.71, 80, 246, 462; 11.138; 14.329,
reinforcing 326 with the notion of immense riches) or one dignified enough in
itself but gaining sarcasm from the context (1.52, enhanced by the massive ending
of 53; 6.296, 620 the grand empress and the humble mushroom; 8.208 a tragic
context soon to be lightened by humour; 15.18); or it may end with everyday Latin
words which incongruously contrast with the grandeur of the (4.87 a
conversational nothing; 6.429 a disgusting context; 11.68 and 71 in close proximity,
133 humble domestic appliances, in contrast to 138 the exotic bird; 12.117 and 121
slave-girls and a will contrasted with the Trojan war). It is possible to detect
special effects in most of the remaining cases; 3.17 artificiality; 3.273 menace; 10.88
again menace, followed by a line of heavy spondees; 10.332 the abrupt snuffing out
of Silius. But in a few instances it is hard to see a special point (9.111, 13.191, 14.115
(with a pronouncedly dactylic rhythm in the rest of the line) and 165, 15.36); it
looks as if Juvenal in his later work came to use this feature with a little more laxity.

Metre39

2. HIATUS
This is another Vergilian feature not employed by Horace or Persius; apart from
exclamations, it is also absent from Statius (for Theb. 8.36, 10.441, Silv. 5.5.74 are
corrupt); Silius has it with Greek words 14.515. Juvenal has nine cases at the penthemimeral caesura (of which 3.70, 10.281, 11.151, 12.110, |[51] 13.65, 14.49 seem to
contribute to a literary effect, whereas 6.274 and 468, 15.126 do not), three (all with
sense-pause) at the hepthemimeral, and one other case (12.36) with a heavy sense
pause.
3. LINE-ENDINGS
Monosyllabic. Juvenal allows himself such endings as 1.31 ut teneat se, 2.115 tempus
erat iam, 1.108 possideo plus, 10.140 famae sitis est quam, which upset the normal
concurrence of metrical beat and word-accent at the end of the line. He has about
130 such cases (I do not count instances like 2.65 sed quid, which do not upset the
pattern), much the same proportion as Horace, whereas Persius has 6 and Vergil about 45. Silius has two cases (13.862 modelled on Vergil; 16.614), Statius four
(Theb. 4.87, 11.490 and modelled on Vergil 1.625, 5.140). Here too in many cases
artistic effect is perceptible, e.g. 6.339 the little mouse (a traditional instance; Verg.
Georg. 1.181, Hor. AP 139), 1.159 the despised mob, 3.203 the frivola of Cordus, 3.305
the sudden slitting of the throat, 5.8 a scrap of mat, 6.649 a precipice, 7.99 q.v.,
9.146 a modest wish, 10.85 headlong haste, 10.308 q.v.
Polysyllabic. 87 cases (counting 13.65), of which 45 are proper names or Greek
words (not counting 7.98 historiarum, 123 pragmaticorum) and one (7.218) is a
word of six syllables. Horace Satires has 43 such cases, much the same proportion
as Juvenal, Persius 8, Vergil 74 (of which all but 7 are proper names or Greek
words). All cases in Statius are likewise proper names or Greek words; apart from
these categories, Silius has instances at 15.171, 728 and a word-group 14.601; 1.203
(modelled on Vergils use of a quadrisyllabic adjective with -que at Aen. 5.588),
4.160 (modelled on Aen. 11.614), and (with Ennian and Vergilian associations)
1.152, 2.484. In Juvenal the grandeur is often both apparent (10.138 induperator,
13.42 caelicolarum) and comic or ironical (3.182 ambitiosa / paupertate, 8.175
fabros sandapilarum, 6.338 the huge penis followed in the next line by the little
mouse, 10.182 Ennosigaeum, 15.4 cercopitheci).
Others. 3.135 scorti placet haeres, 7.160 cuius mihi sexta. There are 16 such cases
in Vergil, 69 in Horaces Satires, 11 (counting 2.55) in Persius, none in Silius (1.71
is corrupt) or Statius.

40introduction

|[52] 4. ELISION
The following works are arranged in an ascending scale of quantity (according
to proportion) of elision: Ovid Metamorphoses, Vergil Bucolics, Juvenal, Statius,
Silius, Horace Satires, Persius, Vergil Aeneid. Juvenal never has more than three
elisions in a line (see on 11.161), which happens 12 times; 5 in Vergils Bucolics
(counting 7.14), 38 in Statius (and 2 with four elisions, Theb. 5.693, Ach. 2.80), 62
in Silius (and 2 with four elisions, 9.245, 11.63), 28 in Horace Satires (and 2 with
four elisions, 1.3.20, 2.3.86), 5 in Persius, 54 in Vergils Aeneid (and 1 with four
elisions, 9.595).
Juvenal does not allow cretic elisions, but there are two cases of dactylic words
ending in mediae elided, quantul(um) 6.151, plurim(um) 14.73. There are 10 such
cases in Horaces Satires (and 2 of elided cretics, tantuli 1.1.59, anulo even in the
fifth foot 2.7.53; occupo 1.9.6 is probably a dactyl), 2 in Persius (1.6, 2.61); 15 in
Vergil (who never allows cretic elision if we discount words ending in an o which
may be short), 3 in Silius (two of them modelled on Vergil; J. Soubiran Llision
dans lHexamtre Latine (1966) 231), none in Statius (not Theb. 4.464). For elision
of iambic words see on 6.237.
Juvenal never elides within the sixth foot (nor does Persius); Vergil has two
cases (Aen. 9.57, 440), Silius one (9.35, modelled on Vergil), Statius none (though
see Theb. 11.429), Horace Satires six. All his elisions within the fifth foot are of a
short vowel or media; the epic poets, with a few exceptions (long Aen. 12.26 and
perhaps Georg. 1.63 ergo age, which is formulaic; mediae 6 times in Vergil and
Theb. 1.41) only allow elision of a short. On the other hand Horace Satires has 13
cases of elision of a long, and Persius 3.
5. CAESURAE
The multiplicity of various combinations of caesurae and quasi-caesurae makes
it difficult to use this criterion in a discussion like this. My notes on 6.450, 10.229
and 358, 11.106, 14.108 comment on some noteworthy caesurae.
|[53] 6. LENGTHENINGS AND SHORTENINGS
Lengthenings due to the metrical beat. These are common enough in Vergil; there
are 6 cases in Horace and 1 in Persius, all with third person singular verbal-endings (cf. CR2 18, 1968, 23b); Statius observes the same limitation (4 cases counting Theb. 12.396; 1.561 is doubtful), and Juvenals one instance is of the same type
(6.340). Since Silius goes out of his way to avoid such lengthening by morphological innovation at 3.405, it should probably not be accepted at 9.545.
Lengthening before two consonants or a double consonant. 8.107 occult spolia;
not found in Vergil or Horace or Persius, once in Statius (Theb. 6.551), thrice in
Silius (9.575, 12.209, 17.546).

Metre41

Short before two consonants or a double consonant. Once in Vergil (Aen. 11.308),
8 times in Horace Satires, not found in Persius or Silius or Statius (but see Theb.
7.733), in Juvenal only 5.45 poner zelotypo (q.v.; z is not on quite the same plane as
qui scilicet and the like). Special cases like 15.114 are here excluded.
7. PAUSES IN UNUSUAL PLACES
Satiric poets, particularly Horace, in order to give an air of greater informality
are willing to break up the movement of the line usual in epic by placing abrupt
pauses near the beginning and end of the line. In the following discussion it must
be remembered that it is not always clear what exactly would constitute a pause
to a Roman; the best discussion of this topic is by N.-O. Nilsson Metrische Stildifferenzen in den Satiren des Horaz (1952) 122 sqq.
After the first syllable 12 times in Horace, twice in Juvenal (7.56, 13.173). The
one clear case in the Aeneid is 1.327 (cf. also 1.250, 685; 2.54; 4.381); Persius has 24
instances.
After the first trochee 11 times in Juvenal, 1417 in Horace (Nilsson 128 seems to
me over-generous here), 68 times in the Aeneid (cf. Nordens edition of Book 6,
p. 389), 2 in Persius.
After the first syllable of the fifth foot 20 times in Horace, twice in enumerations
(1.4.39, 1.2.98); 5 times in Juvenal (3.119, 10.41, 11.47 and 195, 15.106); 2 in Persius;
not in Vergil.
Before the last syllable of the line 8 times In Horace. (Nilsson 134; |[54] but I
should not count 2.8.37, and 2.5.103 is rather doubtful. I agree with Nilsson in excluding 2.7.51), 5 times in Juvenal (5.129, 6.279, 13.35, 15.40, 16.24), once in Persius,
never in Vergil.
In this respect therefore Juvenal comes between Vergil and Horace; it is noticeable that his usage is freer in Books 4 and 5.
8. ENJAMBEMENT
This too is a way in which satiric poets break up the epic movement of the line;
it is however a difficult subject because the term is so elastic. Of the categories
discussed by Nilsson 142 sqq. I shall here list only a few which depend on the
character of the final word of the line,
Prepositions before their cases. Apart from adusque (twice in Horace), Vergil
and Horace only allow dissyllabic prepositions (4 Vergil, 10 Horace), which tend
to maintain a certain independence from their nouns (cf. Horace 1.6.589); one
should however note Horace 2.3.117 unde/octoginta, 1.2.62 inter/est. Juvenal has
inter twice; ultra, contra, erga, usque (10.1) once each; and 6 monosyllabic prepositions (de 5.33, 14.114; pro 8.255, 14.306; in 6.58 and inque 10.244). In this respect
therefore he is more daring than Horace. Persius has nothing like this.
Relative pronouns and the like. Of the relative pronoun so placed there are 8

42introduction

cases in Vergil, 15 in Horace, 2 in Persius, 34 in Juvenal (again a significantly higher proportion than Horace). Of other such words there are 17 cases in Vergil, 14
in Horace, 2 in Persius, 22 in Juvenal; I here count quam (including postquam,
priusquam, tamquam, and also tam), quantus, unde, quisquis, qualis, siquis and
nequis.
Co-ordinating conjunctions. atque 2 cases in Vergil, 4 in Juvenal, 29 in Horace;
et never in Vergil, 12 times in Horace, 6 in Juvenal (who thus in this respect stands
far behind Horace). Others (aut, nec, vel, sed, nam(que) 2 Vergil (both of namque), 6 Horace, 13 Juvenal (including two cases of nec meaning not even and one
of vel meaning even). Persius has nothing like this.
Subordinating conjunctions. si never in Vergil, 18 times in Horace (emending
1.3.10 to si and counting uelut si, ac si, ut si) plus one case each of seu and ni, twice
in Persius plus one case each of |[55] sive and si non, 6 times in Juvenal plus one
case each of sive and etsi. Others (quod, cum, an, dum, ut and sicut, neve, quando,
quamvis, quamquam, donec) 13 times Vergil, 21 Horace, 19 Juvenal, 1 Persius.
It is noticeable that each book of Juvenal shows a slight increase on its predecessor in the proportion of such enjambements, from 23 in Book 1 to 33 in the
shorter Book 5.
T e x t a n d Ma n u sc r i p t s

Since this commentary is based on the Oxford Classical Text by W. V. Clausen

and does not itself contain a text, it is only necessary here to give such a brief outline of the state of the text of Juvenal as will enable the reader to follow discussion
in those places where I differ from Clausens judgment. So I shall briefly summarise the views expressed in BICS 14, 1967, 38 sqq., but in general refrain from
giving the corroborative evidence.
The central fact about the text of Juvenal is that it is preserved in many manuscripts, which fall roughly into three classes: (1) those which often enough corrupt the poets words but seldom make deliberate alterations to them (2) those
which make many deliberate alterations, but nevertheless often enough are correct where the first class is corrupt (3) those which hover in the middle. The chief
representatives of (1) are:
P no.125 in the library of the-medical school at Montpellier, a manuscript written at Lorsch towards the end of the ninth century.
Arov. Five leaves of a tenth-century manuscript, containing in very tattered
condition parts of 2.1487.172, with pagination identical to that of P and
showing a text very closely related to Ps.
Sang. A ninth-century florilegium written and preserved at St. Gall and containing 280 verses of Juvenal.

Text and Manuscripts43

R Parisinus Latinus 8072 of the tenth century, containing 1.12.66, 3.326.437.

This shows a trace of derivation from a source with the same pagination as
PArov., but has incorporated a few readings from class (2).
S The lemmata of the scholia preserved in PArov. and Sang. (which provides a
complete text in a separate section of the manuscript). |[56]
Mico of St. Riquier, who compiled a florilegium to illustrate points of prosody
around A.D. 825; he quotes 32 lines of Juvenal.
The main representatives of class (3) are:
V Vindobonensis 107, of the end of the ninth century, which contains 1.12.59,
2.1075.96.
Aurel. The traces of ink left on the wooden binding of Orleans ms. 295 by two
leaves from a manuscript of Juvenal, written at Fleury in the mid ninth century, once glued to it. The text covers 2.3289 and 3.3593, and it was copied
from a manuscript with the same pagination as PArov. (BICS 478).
A Monacensis 408 of the eleventh century, which basically belongs to class (2),
but from 9.68 onwards agrees with P in a large number of rare readings. It
seems to be related to Micos source.
Nearly all other manuscripts of Juvenal belong to class (2) and are collectively
designated as . In these the text was progressively corrupted and interpolated
as the centuries passed, and this interpolation can be seen beginning at a very
early date. Some of the comments of the scholiast (; to be distinguished from
the lemmata S) presuppose a text of this interpolated type, and these scholia were
composed in the second half of the fourth century (their subsequent transfer to
texts of class (1) type means that S and sometimes clash). From roughly the same
date the quotations of Servius and the imitations of Claudian also show some such
readings to have been present in their texts. About a century later the same is true
of the quotations of Priscian and the text offered by two fragments:
Bob. A palimpsest from Bobbio, now Vat. Lat. 5750, containing 14.32415.43,
with scholia resembling but not identical to .
Ant. A vellum leaf from Antinoe containing 7.14998; this has notes in Greek
and Latin unrelated to .
Of the other -manuscripts the most noteworthy are:
F Parisinus 8071, written towards the end of the ninth century and containing
3.3179.39, 10.116.60. Related to this are LZ, which are not important, and
O a Canonici manuscript (class. Lat. 41) in the Bodleian Library, written at
Monte Cassino about A.D. 1100. The |[57] text of P seems to have exerted some
influence on this manuscript, which is noteworthy for the preservation in the
Sixth satire of 34 lines (after 365) of which only 5 in truncated form survive in
all other manuscripts (and in O itself too), displaced to follow 345; it also preserves two lines after 6.373. As well as the basic exemplar from which he copied the main body of his text, the scribe of O evidently had available another

44introduction

old manuscript and incorporated these lines from it. Related to O is Vat. Lat.
3286, of the eleventh century, also written at Monte Cassino; but their kinship
breaks off about the middle of Six.
U Vat. Urb. 661, written early in the eleventh century. To this is related, from
G the middle of Seven to the end of Thirteen, G, Parisinus 7900A, of the tenth
century (from 1.1 to about 6.473 and in FourteenSixteen this manuscript offers a text of little value; in the latter part of Six and the beginning of Seven it
is closely related to P). Other relations are Vat. Reginensis 2029 of about A.D.
1000, Vat. Lat. 3286 from the middle of Six to 10.366 (where the old portion
of the manuscript breaks off), and to some extent the still imperfectly known
Valenciennes ms. 410 of the eleventh century.
T Trinity College Cambridge O IV 10 of the tenth century, to which is related
Vat. Palatinus 1701, of the end of the ninth century and probably, like P, written at Lorsch. These preserve little of independent value, but are noteworthy
for some striking agreements with P; these readings however are suspected of
being derived from P itself.
K Laurentianus 34.42 of the eleventh century, noteworthy for preserving the
Nicaeus subscription (Clausen x n. 2) which records study of Juvenal in the
school of Servius; this subscription was also added in L by the hand which
wrote a slightly superior version of the later and almost worthless scholia
preserved in many -manuscripts.
H Par. 9345 of the eleventh century; not of great value.
Two leaves of a manuscript of the sixth century containing parts of 14.250319
and preserved in Milan (Ambr.) do not provide sufficient evidence to be classified.
In his edition of 1486 G. Valla quoted from a commentary by a Probus as far as
8.198; nothing is known of this Probus or the source from which Valla |[58] knew
him (for another possible trace of his commentary see Highet 307 n. 25).
Two main problems in practice face the editor of Juvenal. The first is when
to prefer over P and its congeners; this involves deciding that an attractive
reading is genuine tradition, not an interpolation, and that P etc. are corrupt
or (occasionally) interpolated. In this commentary, where Clausen, in my opinion
correctly, follows P etc., I do not usually remark on the -readings, but when
is to be preferred I usually justify the preference unless the reason for it is
obvious. The second problem is that, since a number of lines (at least 40 in my
judgment) presented by all or nearly all manuscripts, even the P-class, are clearly
not by Juvenal, an attempt must be made to identify spurious matter; I have tried
to present a synoptic view of this problem in BICS 22, 1975, 147. A third problem
sometimes raised is whether the state of the text reveals revision by the poet and/
or conflation of two versions; in my opinion this problem is imaginary, and all
difficulties to which a solution has been sought on these lines can be comfortably
solved by other means (often by the assumption of that interpolation which we

Text and Manuscripts45

know to have extensively affected the text; but see on 7.139).

Where I discuss textual problems I assume consultation of the evidence as
presented in Clausens apparatus, which I do not repeat but sometimes, where
necessary, supplement.
[Addendum 2013: Valla seems to have taken his Probus from a ninth-century Brescia manuscript; see Jocelyn CQ2 35 (1985) 468 n. 179 and references there
given.]

| [ 59 ]

Note on Coinage and Time, etc.

For convenience some practical information which the reader of Juvenal needs
to bear in mind is here given briefly. For measures of capacity see on 5.32, 6.426,
12.44; for the system of fractions on 1.40.
The Roman currency is 1600 quadrantes (1.121, 6.447, 7.8) = 400 asses (5.144,
10.116, 11.145, 14.301) = 100 sestertii (nummus means this 7.139, 11.19) = 25 silver
denarii = 1 aureus (7.122). Quadrantes and asses are copper or bronze, sesterces
brass. Sestertium (1.92, 2.117, 4.16, 7.186, 9.41, 13.71) indicates a sum of 1,000 sesterces.
The duodecimal system of fractions which was general at Rome applied to the
day also. When the Romans use hora followed by an ordinal number, e.g. hora
tertia, they almost always mean the end of the hour so numbered. The following
chart gives the times in modern fashion from Marquardt 257.
Hour Midsummer Midwinter
Sunrise
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

4.27
5.42
6.58
8.13
9.29
10.44
12.00
1.15
2.31
3.46
5.02
6.17
7.33

46

7.33 a.m.
8.17
9.02
9.46
10.31
11.15
12.00 noon
12.44 p.m.
1.29
2.31
2.58
3.42
4.27

[61]

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MAPS57
[72]

ROME AT THE TIME OF JUVENAL

58MAPS
[73]

THE FORUM AREA OF ROME

MAPS59
[74]

EGYPT AT THE TIME OF JUVENAL

[77]

Satire One

This satire forms an introduction to the whole book, and Juvenal clearly had a collection largely prepared when he wrote it (see on 86), though the Fourth satire was
evidently added after the composition of the First (see the introduction there).
The reference to the condemnation of Marius Priscus (the only post-Domitianic
event at Rome referred to by Juvenal) gives a terminus post quem of A.D. 100, but
in fact the poem probably belongs to a date much nearer that of Book 2, A.D. 11617
(cf. p. 1).
Juvenal begins (120) by explaining why he proposes to write poetry; the reason, ironical of course, is that everyone else bores him by writing and reciting.
It will be noted that, though 18 mentions only writing, 16 and the reference to
Juvenals own training in public speaking in 1718 seem to imply that he too intends to give recitations (cf. 3.322); but I would suggest that, as so often, Juvenal
has by association brought in a strictly irrelevant point. The basis of his argument
would be that everyone else writes, so he himself might as well do the same, since
he is as good, or as bad, as the rest. This however fails to provide a positive motive
for Juvenal personally; to obtain this, he suggests that his own writing will be
retaliation for the torments of boredom inflicted on him (ego 1, mihi 3, mihi 7) by
reciting poets.
He then announces his explanation why he chooses to write satire in particular
(1921). These other poets wrote in elevated genres, elegy, tragedy and epic (comedy also, 3; Juvenal seems to have classed it with higher poetry, a point challenged
by Horace Serm. 1.4.45 sqq.); Juvenal rejects trite mythology for something more
in contact with ordinary human life, as others had rejected it for historical epic
or didactic (see on 7). One is reminded of the review of contemporary literature
in Hor. Serm. 1.10 (cf. on 79), which ends with the declaration that satire was the
only field left free for Horace himself; for Persius, see below. Juvenal also explicitly places his satirical writing in the tradition of Lucilius, and the last paragraph
(147 sqq.) |[78] makes plain exactly what side of Lucilius he had in mind, namely
61

62A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

his aggressiveness, going as far as attacks on named living individuals. Though

Juvenal makes a bow in the direction of Horace (51) and represents him as aggressive, Horaces generally relaxed and largely autobiographical style of writing
could have little relevance to Juvenals own work. It is however noticeable that
he associates both Horace and Lucilius (20) with the little country towns of their
birth; perhaps the Aquini alumnus felt this as a bond of sympathy. He does not
mention Persius either here or elsewhere, though he knew and imitated him and
in fact did so in this very poem (see below and on 143). Persius lack of personal
attacks would make mention of him inappropriate in this context.
The explanation which Juvenal gives for writing satire (2280) is that ira (45),
indignatio (79) make it impossible not to do so (39) when one sees the sort of
people who prosper at Rome nowadays, at the expense of decent honest citizens
(37, 74). As a topic for a writer, this puts mythological epic (resuming 113) in the
shade (524); the result may not be inspired or grand (7980, where of course the
anticlimax shows the modesty to be mock-modesty, and 86; cf. on 15), but it comes
from the heart. The structure of this section deserves close analysis. Juvenal seeks
to prove his point, enunciated in 736, by a cumulation of exempla, which are
divided into groups, most of them beginning with a rhetorical question, and interspersed with Juvenals own comments. The groups are these: two instances of the
reversal of the role of the sexes (223), one anonymous of line and one named
of 1 lines, linked with two (249) of the reversal of the social order, one anonymous of 2 lines and one named of 4 lines. Then two (326) of those who misapply
the law, one named of 1 lines and one anonymous of 3 lines (assuming 3741
to be misplaced and counting 424 as Juvenals comment). Next two anonymous
cases, each of line, of those who reduce others to poverty by extortion, with a
two-line illustration of Marius (4650); two (5562) anonymous instances, of 3
and 5 lines, of those who seek wealth and promotion by corrupt means (and the
5 lines 3741, with two named instances, probably belong here); two anonymous
criminals (6372), of 5 and 4 lines; and finally three anonymous upsetters of family
relationships (778), each of line. There is clearly a pattern here, though not a
|[79] rigid one; and equally clearly this pattern is improved by the removal of 3741
from their present position, which seems necessary on quite different grounds.
So Juvenal has told us that he is going to write satire, and why; what then is satire, and what is its subject-matter (materia 151)? It covers all aspects of human life
since the Flood (816), and no epoch has ever offered a richer crop of vice (see on
87) than the present, a statement which Juvenal documents by a number of illustrations (87146) dominated by money in its two converse aspects, meanness and
extravagance, and the corruption which it brings. First avaritia is mentioned generally (88); then dicing, which involves both faults (923); then aedificatio (94),
i.e. extravagance; then gluttony, which again involves both faults, dining lavishly
(extravagance) on ones own (meanness). Juvenal dwells on this last instance to

SATIRE ONE63

the end of this section (146) because in so many ways it is a clinching illustration
of his theme. It results in a corruption of the friendly (146; there is a punch in
the very last word of the section, cf. p. 21) relationship between patron and client
which was in so many ways fundamental to Roman society. Formerly, it is implied, meals were modest (with no extravagance) and shared by patron with client
(meanness was absent). Nowadays the sociable (see on 135) relationship produced
by dining together is eliminated in favour of a commercialised payment in money,
and meanness even makes the clients identify themselves at a roll-call. But the
patron is not alone in his meanness; even the aristocrats of Rome come to collect
their dole, and so too do rich freedmen. The precedence granted to this latter class
is an eloquent testimony to the informal apotheosis of divitiae at Rome, which
may soon be expected to become formalised (nondum 114; actually this implication clashes with Juvenals assertion in 147 sqq. that Rome has already reached the
peak of depravity; for a similar clash see on 14.57). What then can be expected of
poor clients, who depend entirely on the sportula? Meanness (admittedly venial
because enforced) makes them scramble for the dole (96) and they adopt every
means to get as much as possible (1206). In the hope of securing an invitation to
dinner they are willing to submit to servile and tiring attendance on their patron
throughout the day (as Hirst realised, a new paragraph should not be started at
127; see, on 135), but |[80] their meanness is frustrated by that of the patron, who
fails to invite them and dines on his own on the most extravagant food (his tables
too 1378 unite extravagance and meanness). The theme of the whole section is
now enunciated explicitly at the close; it is luxuriae sordes (140), i.e. extravagance
and meanness simultaneously. The combination is deadly (1426). Having thus
documented his statement that the corruption of the present age is the greatest
there ever has been (87), Juvenal resumes it by stating that it is the greatest there
ever will be (1479); note vitiorum 87, vitium 149.

The analysis of this section, which has been much criticised for poor composition, shows that it is in fact most carefully laid out in the form of thought which visualised in one way can be called chiasmus (see on 135) and in another ring-com-

64A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

position; see the index under these entries and also Hermathena 118, 1974, 17,
where I considered the passage under these aspects (I might have adduced Cic.
Part. Or. 24). The diagram above will illustrate the point.
But now a difficulty (150); an interlocutor reminds Juvenal that the days of Lucilian-style attacks on contemporaries are over. What then, says Juvenal, is crime
to go scot-free (15960)? Yes, says his interlocutor; the epic themes which you
rejected in 524 and 121 are innocuous (Horace too had been advised to abandon
satire for historical epic, Serm. 2.1.1023 because cum sibi quisque timet, quam
quam est intactus, et odit, with which Juv. 1658 should be compared, and had
rejected the advice), but Lucilian satire causes nothing but trouble. Well then, says
Juvenal, I shall solve that problem by attacking only the dead. |[81] This concluding statement of intent (1701) is brief and receives no elaboration, but it needs
some. Obviously Juvenal cannot mean that he is going to satirise Rome as it used
to be, in view of his emphatic declarations of the corruption of the present (87,
1479; cf. the contrast between nunc and avus 95). Now the first of these declarations is preceded (816) by the statement that Juvenals material is everything
that men have been doing since the Flood. Put these two statements together,
and it will be apparent that the present differs from the past in quantity, but not
in quality. Therefore we are to gather that when we read an attack on (say) Tigellinus, mutato nomine de te fabula narratur. Juvenal announces his intention of
using those who lay buried as examples in attacking the vices of his own time
(Stephenson CR1 4, 1890, 229); the point of which perhaps becomes clearer if we
replace examples with exempla. The intent of Juvenals statement is to make
it plain to the reader that this satirist who has proclaimed himself a follower of
Lucilius yet differs from him in one respect in which he follows the practice of
Horace. We need not doubt that some of the people given unflattering mention
by Juvenal were still alive when he wrote, but they were either men who had fallen from power or were of no significance; similarly Horace (N. Rudd, Satires of
Horace (1966) 1338 = CQ2 10, 1960, 1624). We can readily comprehend that this
was a sensible course for both, but Juvenal gives a reason which goes far beyond
this; he makes his interlocutor declare that the outcome of attacks on the powerful will be a gruesome execution. This statement has generally been taken almost
literally, but this is absurd; it is due merely (1) to a natural exaggeration on the
part of the interlocutor in his attempt to deter Juvenal from causing offence (2) to
the fact that Juvenal, being forced to choose a Neronian exemplum (see on 155),
thinks of a punishment particularly associated with the times of that cruel and
arbitrary emperor. It remains true that he is saying that a powerful man at Rome
when offended could find means of making his resentment felt (cf. 9.97100),
and that this is his reason for not following the practice of Lucilius; of course
this too is a criticism of his own times. We need not necessarily suppose that
bitter experience had made him overcautious (see Introduction on his life); see

SATIRE ONE65

what happened to Fabricius Veiento in his youth (Tac. Ann. 14.50). Yet there is
|[82] undeniably a certain element of living in the past in this poem; as one of the
repellent figures of contemporary Rome Juvenal mentions a delator still pursuing
his trade (326), whereas Trajan had firmly suppressed and exiled those of this
profession (Pliny Pan. 345, 42, which seems to have been published in a revised
version in A.D. 103). We must infer that the grim past had so ingrained itself in
Juvenals mind that to some extent he failed to recognise contemporary realities.
As in a number of other genres at Rome, so in satire it was customary to preface
a collection of poems with a programmatic poem. Lucilius evidently did this in the
first book which he published, numbered XXVI in the standard collected edition;
fr. 587 from this book scoffs at the traditional epic subjects. He was followed by
Horace (Serm. 2.1) and Persius. These and this poem of Juvenal are studied in relation to each other by Shero Univ. Wisconsin Studies in Language and Literature
15 (Classical Series II), 1922, 148; Kenney PCPS2 8, 1962, 34; Griffith Hermes 98,
1970, 56. The poem of Horace shows some resemblances (see above and on 77),
and in particular raises the question of personal attacks (siquis / opprobriis dignum
latraverit 845); Horace is warned ut sis / vitalis metuo et maiorum nequis amicus /
frigore te feriat (602). His answer is that, like Lucilius, he has powerful protectors
(Juvenal cannot say this), and he finally evades the problem with a joking pun. The
bulk of Persius poem is an attack on the contemporary literary scene; everyone
now writes and recites airy-fairy stuff (vapid epics like the Iliad of Attius 50, which
reminds us of the Theseid of Cordus; elegies 51, cf. Juv. 4; neoteric-style epyllia). In
view of Persius evident intention to be different his interlocutor warns him quid
opus teneras mordaci radere versu / auriculas? (this is Horaces tristi laedere versu
21). The maiores may freeze him out (this is after Horace). Am I then to pretend
that all is well? replies Persius. Lucilius whipped the city (see on 154), Horace
benignly castigated faults; me muttire nefas? I insist on communicating my perception of what is wrong, but only to the select few (another Horatian attitude).
It will be apparent that Persius has a great deal in common with Juvenal, though
his point is more general and not tied down to personal criticism, which Persius
avoids in his satires.
Thus all three protest that they cannot help writing satire, |[83] though they all
give different reasons (innate impulse, Horace 2460; the absurdities of contemporary Rome, Persius 812 and 1203), they turn away from other kinds of writing
(especially epic) and appeal to Lucilius. Griffith notes the emergence of a pattern:
(1) The poet makes a proclamation (Juv. 14750, Horace 60).
(2) The interlocutor warns him (Juv. 1507, Horace 602, Persius 10710).
(3) The poet counters with a question (Juv. 1589, Horace 628, Persius 114
19; this is where Horace and Persius appeal to Lucilius, who in Juvenal appears in
the interlocutors warnings).

66A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

(4) Another warning (Juv. 16070, Horace 803, Persius 119 nusquam, given
to the interlocutor).
(5) An evasive retort by the poet (Juv. 1701, Horace 835, Persius 120 sqq.).
One striking common feature is the employment of an interlocutor by all of
them (and Persius draws attention to this, 44). Obviously the poet himself must
pose as the fearless unmasker of vice; how then can he make the necessary reservations without seeming to withdraw in cowardly fashion? This problem is solved
by introducing the interlocutor to enjoin caution. Here the common denominator
of the poems is touched. The characteristic of classical, as opposed to romantic,
writers is that they are eager to place themselves in a tradition, to present themselves in the line of descent from the of their genre. To the satirist
this gave the awkward inheritance of Lucilian aggressiveness which was no longer
historically possible for them; and each of them writes a programmatic poem to
get round the problem in his own way.
1 EGO Sc. ero or sim; the ellipse indicates indignation, cf. p. 33.
AUDITOR At a recitation 3.322, Pliny Ep. 1.13.7, Mart. 12 pr.; Hor. Ep. 1.19.39
nobilium scriptorum auditor et ultor (cf. the next note).
REPONAM Repay a debt (hence Pliny l.c. creditor of one who attends recitations by others in the hope of getting them to attend his own), without an expressed object as here Cic. Ad Att. 13.12.3. Here retaliate (cf. on 21); Juvenal is
thinking of Horaces ultor (see previous note; the interpretation of Fraenkel 348
is unacceptable).
2 RAUCI Because of continual recitation; Mart. 8.3.15. |[84]
THESEIDE An epic of the type rejected in 53 sqq. (n.b. mugitum Labyrinthi)
and 1624.
CORDI (which is also the reading of the -family of Servian mss. in the preface
to Aen. 1, though this family seems to be of little authority) is a Roman cognomen. On the name here and at 3.203, 208 cf. Griffith CR2 1, 1951, 138; we should
not however in any case identify the two men, since though that man has literary
tastes he is not necessarily a writer, and he is a sympathetic character whereas
this is not. Griffith points out that Cordus is corrupted to Codrus at Lucan 8.715
(and also of the same person at De Viris Ill. 77.9), Dion. Hal. AR 5.25.4, and that
two occurrences of Codrus on inscriptions probably refer to slaves or freedmen.
The corruption here was due to recollection of the reading of nearly all mss. in 3
ll.cc., the Athenian (cf. Theseide) hero Codrus, and Vergils use of the name for a
(bucolic) poet Buc. 7.22 and 26 (5.11).
3 IMPUNE Cf. Hor. Epist. 2.2.105 (and note ibid. 91 hic elegos) and ultor l.c. on
1.
RECITAVERIT This and consumpserit are probably future perfect indicative

SATIRE ONE67

in view of the context of similar indignant questions at Verg. Aen. 2.581, 4.591 (cf.
9.785 with impune); but it would make little difference if they were perfect subjunctives (cf. Woodcock p. 131). Cf. on 1589.
Recitations, though occasionally held long before, were made a regular part
of literary life at Rome by Asinius Pollio (Sen. Contr. 4 pr. 2; Dalzell Hermath.
86, 1955, 20); Juvenal is said (probably falsely, but cf. 3.322) to have given them
himself (vita), and he also mentions Statius (7.83). Cf. 3.9 with Mayors note, 7.39
sqq. Their proper purpose was to elicit criticism, but they also served the object
of reviews, publicity (7.3940), and often in fact turned into a kind of preliminary
publication. Attendance at them was a not always pleasurable social obligation.
See RE recitatio, SG 3.38 = 2.225, TeuffelKroll 2 p. 7, Carcopino 196. The satirists
make plain their distaste for recitation (Hor. 1.4.23 and 73, Pers. 1 passim; though
according to his biographer Persius recited).
TOGATAS Comedies with Italian settings, like the tragic praetextae, in contrast to palliatae. Pliny Ep. 6.21 mentions recitation of a comedy (cf. E. Rohde Der
Griechische Roman3 (1914) 327 n. 1). A togata by Afranius was still produced under
Nero (Suet. 11), though this literary form was virtually extinct.
4 ELEGOS The flowering of Roman elegiac poetry belongs to Augustan times,
but it was still written (by Nerva (Mart. 8.70.7), Arruntius Stella, and probably
Lygdamus) and recited (Pers. 1.51, Pliny Ep. 6.15, 5.17.2). |[85]
DIEM CONSUMPSERIT Cf. Pliny Ep. 1.13.4, 6.17.3; RE recitatio 443.55.
INGENS Sen. Ep. 95.2 recitator historiam ingentem attulit.
56 TELEPHUS, ORESTES Tragic heroes, both written about by Euripides; the
names are also titles, cf. Catull. 35.13 and Juv. 7.73, 92. For recitation of tragedies cf.
RE l.c. 441, O. Zwierlein Die Rezitationsdramen Senecas (1966) 15761; the last dramatist to have his works performed was Pomponius Secundus, under Claudius.
SUMMI LIBRI when the margin at the end of the roll is filled up; normally a margin would be left between the last column and the umbilicus. Cf. Mart.
4.89.4 summa (= ultima) schida, Ovid Met. 9.5645.
SCRIPTUS ET IN TERGO It is opisthograph, which would be exceptional; the
Hercules Oetaeus is a surviving lengthy tragedy. For opisthograph authors mss. cf.
Pliny Ep. 3.5.17, Mart. 8.62 (and Revelation 5.1); there was a charta Claudia (Pliny
NH 13.79) suitable for this format; cf. Marquardt 815.
7 sqq. Juvenal recalls the remarks made by Vergil in the prologue to Georgics 3
(after Choerilus of Samos fr. 1 Kinkel; cf. also the prologue to the Aetna and Stat.
Silv. 5.3.85) on the triteness of conventional , and those of Horace AP 15 sqq.
on purpurei panni (cf. Pers. 1.70 ponere lucum artifices). It has often been thought
that the allusion to the grove of Mars (taken to be that in Colchis, rather than that
in which Cadmus killed the serpent) and the contemptuous reference to Jasons
theft of the Golden Fleece are a hit at the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus; this is
neither particularly likely (especially as Valerius does not give an of the

68A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

grove) nor particularly unlikely.

NOTA SUA Cf. Cic. Ad Q. Fr. 1.1.45 (Herod. 8.35.3 is partly similar); Aetna
16 non cessit cuiquam melius sua tempora nosse (than the Golden Age repeatedly
described by poets).
AEOLIIS VULCANI Cf. 13.45 Liparaea, referring to Hiera (Thermessa);
there are seven Aeoliae insulae, of which Lipara is the chief and Strongyle was
regarded as the home of Aeolus (RE Aiolie 1033). Val. Fl. 1.580 has stat RUPES horrenda fretis (Hiera) nec scopulos aut ANTRA minor iuxta altera tellus (Strongyle) / cernitur; illam Acamans habitat nudusque Pyracmon, / has nimbi ventique
domos et naufraga servat / tempestas; but Verg. Aen. 8.416 sqq. is also very similar.
QUID AGANT VENTI A commonplace of epic descriptions (cf. 12.23), not to
be tied down to Val. Fl. 1.608 sqq. The winds come naturally after their king Aeolus (as in Val. Fl. after the passage quoted in the previous note).
AEACUS Cf. 10.257; Jason is contemptuously left unnamed, his exploit is reduced by a diminutive pelliculae, and he is depicted as a |[86] common thief (furtivae) stealing gold (cf. Aeetes at Val. Fl. 7.54). Cf. 6.153; velleris auro Val. Fl. 8.258
(for this idiom, ultimately equivalent to auream pelliculam, see index nouns).
UNDE seems to repeat lucus Martis, unless the Theban one is meant.
MONYCHUS A centaur who hurls trees against the Lapiths, Ovid Met. 12.410;
orni are hurled by Rhoecus, Lucan 6.390 (Monychus is mentioned 388), and the
centaurs in general, Stat. Ach. 1.113.
12 FRONTO A rich patron who lends his house and gardens for recitations (cf.
7.39 sqq.). Mart. 1.55 is addressed to a Fronto togae decus, perhaps Ti. Catius Caesius Fronto, cos. A.D. 96 (Sherwin-White Pliny Ep. p. 170), praised by Pliny as an
orator. , who glosses in Horatiana domo, had in mind the famous M. Cornelius
Fronto, which of course is chronologically impossible (cf. Fronto p. 19 Horatius
Flaccus mihi propter Maecenatem et Maecenatianos hortos meos non alienus);
nor can an ancestor of his be intended, as he was a native of Cirta in Numidia.
Von Premerstein Hermes 43, 1908, 325 refers to remains of a villa at Labicum,
where a Herm has the inscription
/ (IG 14.1011), and identifies Fronto with (CIL 5.2386) Fronto Ti. Claudi Caesaris Aug. Germanici dispesator Lent-
(l)ianus, who, he argues, bequeathed the estate in question to Claudius.
PLATANI MARMORA Plane trees (to give shade with their broad leaves),
and statues (9.104) in a peristyle (columnae); whereas horti (see previous note)
would suggest a park (cf. 7.79). For the plane trees cf. Pliny NH 12.612, 17.90; the
platanon of Mart. 12.50 and that with statues ibid. 3.19; Pliny Ep. 1.3.1. MARMORA
might also indicate marble-covered walls and pavements (cf. 3.20 and 215); but it is
much more vivid to think of tormented statues, perhaps of Muses and poets, especially as CONVOLSA and RUPTA are technical medical terms for strained limbs,
often coupled by Pliny NH (e.g. 20.36, 22.79, 28.140; see further Schneider s.vv.).

SATIRE ONE69

CLAMANT echo; Sil. It. 14.365. This is a satirical version of the way in which
nature echoes the poets song at e.g. Verg. Buc. 6.1011.
13 SEMPER ET ASSIDUO Pers. 4.18.
RUPTAE They are so worn out by the vehemence of the readers that they shatter; cf. Verg. Georg. 3.328, where Servius quotes this line, and Copa 27; Donatus
vit. Verg. 18.77 (Vergil is speaking) tu loquacitate muros rumpis (walls collapse
because of shouting, Plut. 461d).
ASSIDUO LECTORE When a person is treated as an instrument, not acting
through conscious intention, he may take the instrumental rather than the agent
construction; 3.306 and doubtless 1.54, 6.130 |[87] (13.87 is ablative absolute; see
also on 9.150, 10.155); 6.29 is not fully personal, 3.91 is an irrational creature. But
this is a harsh instance since, though the result of the readers action is unintended, he is neither inert nor a mere instrument used by others; cf. Manil. 2.77 aequo
digesta parente. It is sometimes argued that the main emphasis goes to the abstract
quality conveyed by the adjective, as if it were assiduitate lectoris, but this will only
explain a minority of instances. Cases like this, with an adjective, can still be related to the circumstantial (or absolute) ablative, but it nevertheless must be admitted that the construction ultimately cuts itself off from its roots. See KS 1.378;
Hor. Epist. 1.1.94 (Witton G & R2 3, 1956, 71 puts this in a class of menial servants),
Odes 1.6.2 (this could be ablative absolute, but was otherwise understood by Sil.
It. 13.409, who is fond of the construction; P. Verres De Tib. Silii Italici Punicis
Quaestiones (1888) 312); Stat. Th. 3.521 auditus Iasone according to the mss.
14 EXPECTES This may be the jussive subjunctive of the indefinite second person; cf. 3.276, 7.9 (in a prohibition 3.302, 4.22). Cf. KS 1.186.
SUMMO MINIMOQUE 6.349, 11.36.
15 ET NOS I have attended the teaching of the grammaticus (who based much
of his instruction on poetry) and (ET NOS) of the rhetor (cf. 7.150243), i.e. I
have been through the standard educational curriculum. Note that the nature of
this makes Juvenal refer to rhetoric as a preparation for writing poetry; it is not
his primary intention to say this explicitly, but it is a revealing statement which
does much to illuminate the nature of Silver poetry (cf. Theon Rhet. Gr. 2.70.24
Spengel). Irony might be intended, as if these vates thought that rhetoric on its
own without the other qualities known by Juvenal to be necessary would suffice to
produce poetry; but it is hard to see this in the passage.
ERGO Cf. 14.119; well then. We may perhaps catch a hint of the same mock
modesty as in 80; when even minimi poetae do this, why shouldnt I too?
FERULAE The giant fennel, used as a cane (cf. 6.47880). For the instruments
of corporal punishment in ancient schools cf. Domitius Marsus ap. Suet. De
Gramm. 9 si quos Orbilius ferula scuticaque cecidit; Phanias AP 6.294 = Gow
Page HE 2972, Alciphron 3.15 (= 51).3, Bonner 143, Marquardt 113, Blmner1 319
and illustration on 317.

70A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

SUBDUXIMUS = subtraximus 8.77, 11.142. Juvenal is thinking of Horaces extimuit magistrum at AP 415 in a similar context of artistic preparation. Here the
boy snatches away his hand as the cane descends. |[88]
16 CONSILIUM DEDIMUS The same phrase in this context Sen. Suas. 6.11,
Quintil. 3.8.30 and 46. C. D. SULLAE UT is a favourite theme of suasoriae,
Quintil. 3.8.53; Sulla is urged to resign as dictator.
PRIVATUS In the republican sense without any official position in a republican context; elsewhere (even at 41) Juvenal uses the word in its imperial sense
subject or belonging to a subject (4.66, 6.114, 12.107), contrasted with the emperor and his household (RE princeps 2059.11; ANRW 2.1.17).
ALTUM DORMIRET Cf. Lucan 7.28, 5.5056, Stat. Th. 1.147; uneasy lies the
head
17 TOT For the number of amateur poets cf. SG 3.26 and 67 = 2.214 and 252;
Persius quoted in the introduction.
18 VATIBUS This word (cf. 7.53, 89, 93; 6.436) has an ironical implication absent from poeta 14; cf. the juxtaposition of the two at Pers. prol. 3 and 7 and his
ironical use of vates at 5.1. This word in early Latin is applied only to soothsayers
(cf. 6.584, 11.114); it seems to have been Varro who linked it with poets (he emphasises its religious associations ap. Isidore 8.7.3, cf. ibid. 7.12.15 and De L. L. 7.36).
The Augustan poets found it very suitable to convey their higher claims than had
been usual at Rome for the status of poetry, its first occurrence in this way being
at Verg. Buc. 9.34 (cf. 7.28), where the innovation is softened by the nearby occurrence of poeta 32 and the Theocritean original (7.3741) has .
Thereafter a notion of divine inspiration and dignity attached to the word (cf. Tac.
Dial. 9 egregium poetam vel, si hoc honorificentius est, praeclarissimum uatem;
ibid. 12.3 again linked with poetae), which lends itself to satiric deflation. See M.
Runes in Festschr. P. Kretschmer (Vienna 1926) 202; Dahlmann Philol. 97, 1948,
337 = Kl. Schr. 35; Bickel Rh. Mus. 94, 1951, 257; Brink on Hor. AP 400; J. K. Newman The Concept of Vates in Augustan Poetry (1967).
OCCURRAS For the indefinite second person subjunctive in a subordinate
clause cf. 3.7 and 310.
PERITURAE that is sure to be wasted because some other poet will scribble
on it; passive of perdo, cf. on 4.56. Cf. Mart. 2.1.4 brevior quod mihi charta perit,
6.64.23, 13.1.3, 10.4.7.
19 POTIUS He cannot use the natural potissimum without an ugly elision (on
6.151). For TAMEN SI EDAM cf. 14.31617.
DECURRERE A word used of equestrian exercises (d. campo ends the line at
Stat. Th. 7.415; metaphorical as here Colum. 10.226), like the on
the Campus Martius (Strabo 5.3.8.236, Blmner1 330). Both campus (Prop. 2.10.2,
Tac. Dial. 39, where see Gudeman, Cic. Top. 45 and Reid on Ac. Pr. 2.112, Quintil.
5.14.31, 12.9.2) and equi (chariot, like ; cf. Thes. s.v. 737.33 and often |[89] Ovid,

SATIRE ONE71

e.g. AA 1.3940) are common metaphors in literary contexts; see further Riedner
55, E. Norden Kl. Schr. 9 and Die Ant. Kunstprosa2 (1909) 1.33 n. 3, SchmidSthlin
1.1.10 n. 3, G. Luck The Latin Love Elegy2 (1969) 1369, W. Wimmel Kallimachos
in Rom (Hermes Einzelschr. 16, 1960) 105 on the legacy of Callim. fr. 1.27. [Addendum, originally on p. 623: Wiseman Liverpool Class. Monthly 4, 1979, 132 links
these with Juv. 1.60.]
20 MAGNUS AURUNCAE ALUMNUS i.e. Lucilius (154, 165), a native of
Suessa Aurunca, as we are informed by and Auson. Epist. 15.9 (p. 246 Prete).
To Martial also (12.94.7) Lucilius is the pattern of a satirist; he was popular at this
time (Tac. Dial. 23.2, Quintil. 10.1.93), but of course Juvenal has special reasons
for making him prominent in this poem, since he means to give his own writing
an aggressive slant. He is portrayed as an epic hero (it is not likely that Juvenal is
alluding to the well-known fact that Lucilius was an eques), driving a chariot and
described in an epic periphrasis, as in 165 he is fighting against vice in a battle with
epic fury (ardens infremuit).
SI VACAT AC PLACIDI Ovid Fasti 2.1718 ergo ades et placido paulum mea
munera voltu / respice, pacando siquid ab hoste vacat (v.l. vacas). PLACIDI puts
the reader in the position of a dedicatee (Ovid l.c. and ibid. 1.17), SI VACAT in the
position of one invited to listen to a recitation (Hor. Epist. 2.2.95, Pliny Ep. 3.18.4);
this is Juvenals ultio (cf. 14). Note that after the vague expectes and occurras he
now becomes the rhetorician talking to a precise audience (admittitis).
RATIONEM My account of myself.
22 Ulpian Dig. 50.16.128 spadonum generalis appellatio est, quo nomine tam
hi qui natura spadones sunt, item thlibiae thlasiae, sed et si quod aliud genus spadonum est continetur (though this juristic definition is not carefully observed in
literary sources; RE spadon and suppl. 3.449.43, Dalle 121, Maass Rh. Mus. 74, 1925,
439). Marriage with castrate eunuchs was forbidden, but not with spadones, since
they might be congenitally so (Kaser1 314, Hopfner1 396, Ulpian Dig. 23.3.39.1, SG10
1.280 (not in Eng. transl.), Dalle 261).
MEVIA dresses as an Amazon (nuda mamma cf. Verg. Aen. 1.492 and the
bare-breasted huntresses of Artemis, Callim. Hymn 3.21213) and participates in a
venatio in the amphitheatre; cf. Mart. Spect. 6b, Dio Cass. 66.25.1 of the games of
Titus in A.D. 80 (these women however were of low rank, whereas Mevia must be
of some standing to be named thus by Juvenal). Women also appeared in the arena under Nero (Tac. Ann. 15.32, Dio 61.17.3). Cf. 6.246 sqq. [Addendum, originally
on p. 623: For the exhibition of female gladiators at Ostia cf. Cbeillac-Gervasoni
and Zevi, Mm. Ec. Fr. Rome 88, 1976, 612 and 617.]
TUSCUM There were many boars in the thick woods of Etruria, Stat. Silv.
4.6.10, Mart. 7.27.1 and 12.14.9, CEL 865 = CIL 14.3911.3; and this may well be where
Pliny hunted, Ep. 1.6.1, 9.10.1. For the ornamental epithet cf. 8.15. |[90]
VENABULA Probably not poetic plural; it was common to carry two spears

72A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

when hunting (Verg. Aen. 1.313, Ovid Met. 14.344, Apul. Met. 11.8; sometimes so
depicted on Greek vase paintings).
245 25 recurs at 10.226, as 10.365 = 14.315 and 13.137 = 16.41. In spite of the evidence for the omission of the couplet (which is not really impressive in quality), it
is much more appropriate here than 10.2256 are in their context, and its omission
would upset the pattern analysed in the introduction.
PATRICIOS is simply equivalent to nobiles; on 4.102.
PROVOCET Sen. Ep. 120.19; cf. Juv. 6.376.
UNUS Probably Cinnamus, a barber dominae munere factus eques Mart. 7.64.
If so it will be noted that by the end of A.D. 92, when this book of Martial was
published, Cinnamus was in exile. The problem which Juvenal does not raise until
151 sqq. affects all the earlier part of the poem too, and before he enunciates his
solution (1701) he applies it.
GRAVIS SONABAT i.e. graviter; cf. Verg. Aen. 3.70 lenis crepitans with Williams note, Sil. It. 2.545 and 17.423, and perhaps Prop. 4.8.49 rauci sonuerunt
postes, Stat. Th. 9.348; HS 172, KS 1.237. The beard rasped as it was clipped. The line
is a parody of Verg. Buc. 1.28 candidior postquam tondenti barba cadebat. Juvenal
is no longer a iuvenis, and therefore no longer has his beard; so he is presumably
older than 45, having shaved off his beard about the age of 40 (on 4.103).
26 PARS 8.44.
NILIACAE For Juvenals dislike of Egyptians cf. 1301, sat. 15 passim and p. 21.
VERNA native, a metaphor from home-born slaves. This was apparently a
humorous slang usage (5.105, 9.10 q.v., Starr CP 37, 1942, 315), but has its sting
applied to the low-born Crispinus (cf. 4.24 and 32).
CANOPI He was probably in fact a native of Memphis (Mart. 7.99.2), but the
associations of Canopus (on 15.46) suit Juvenals purpose better.
27 CRISPINUS See 4.134 and 1089. The name is held back until he has been
thoroughly discredited.
TYRIAS On his fondness for purple dress cf. 4.31 and Mart. 8.48. Various emperors restricted by law the wearing of purple (RE 2012 and DS 778a s.v. purpura; SG 2.175 = 2.318; Marquardt 51314; M. Reinhold History of Purple as a Status
Symbol (1970) 55 n. 1), but fashion defeated law (cf. 7.134, 12.389); the old-fashioned Roman abhors it 14.188. Naturally Tyrian-dyed fabric was expensive. Lucian Nigrin. 21 describes the rich of Rome |[91]
( Marcilius) , and Martial mentions a
branded slave turned knight cuius et hinc lucet sardonychata manus, / quaeque
Tyron totiens epotavere lacernae (2.29.23).
REVOCANTE hitching up, cf. Serv. Aen. 7.612 lacinia a tergo revocata and
(less precisely) Claudian In Rufin. 2.79. He does this probably not because he is
unused to wearing rich garments, but (as with the waving of the ring) to attract attention (cf. Theophr. Char. 21 (). 8 (note the tense

SATIRE ONE73

according to the mss.) ), with the particular point that the colour of
Tyrian purple varied according to the light; Pliny NH 9.135 nigricans aspectu idemque suspectu refulgens, ibid. 21.45, Sen NQ 1.5.12 purpuram Tyriam, quo melior est
saturiorque, eo altius oportet teneas ut fulgorem suum teneat (intendat Garrod),
Macrob. Sat. 2.4.14. Likewise the dandies at Amm. Marc. 14.6.9 (expectant) crebris
agitationibus ut longiores fimbriae tunicaeque perspicue luceant (see the whole
passage).
LACERNAS See on 9.28; of purple RE s.v. 329.4 and Mart. 8.10.1, of gold Juv.
10.212; cf. Blmner1 215.
28 VENTILET to show it off; Apul. Met. 2.26 and Martial and Lucian quoted
above. With this and SUDANTIBUS Juvenal is recalling Mart. 12.18.5 (see p. 2)
addressed to him.
AESTIVUM per luxuriam enim anulos aestivos et hiemalis invenerat et sim.
Probus; a whim of this Egyptian dandy (cf. the winter and summer dinner-service
at Athen. 6.230d and Prop. 4.8.37). This is the simplest and most pointed explanation; if even the summer ring is heavy, how much heavier must the winter one be?
Gercke (Gttingen Gel. Anzeiger 1896.975), Duff and Gnilka (JAC 89, 19656, 177)
take the adjective to be like matutino amomo 4.108, nocturnae amicae 3.12
(cf. also 6.118 and 523, 12.92, 14.131 etc.; KS 1.235, HS 161 95b, Housman on Manil.
1.226); the meaning will then be that the heavy ring in summer makes his fingers
sweat (which Roman gravitas should ignore; cf. 2.701) and he waves it in the air,
but this is far less forceful. Crispinus seems to have been liable to perspiration
(4.108).
AURUM Not the plain gold equestrian ring (7.89), since this one has a jewel
(29), like a sealing-ring (68).
29 For heavy rings cf. 7.140 and F. H. Marshall Catalogue of the Finger Rings,
Greek, Etruscan and Roman in the B.M. (1907) xxvi, Blmner1 259 (cf. also Ovid
Am. 2.15.22).
30 INIQUAE saevae urbis 3.8; Rome is unjust in rewarding and honouring the
wicked (cf. 736). For PATIENS INIQUAE cf. 5.3.
FERREUS 7.150; quis tam ferreus Cic. 2 Verr. 5.121, Lael. 87. Cf. the indignation
of Palladas AP 11.340.
VENIAT From now on Juvenal speaks as if he were standing at the |[92]
street-corner (634) watching the procession of corrupt passers-by; though this is
not maintained in 557 and hardly in 5862 (which might be used as an argument
against placing 3741 in that area).
MATHONIS A bucca 11.34; a bankrupt causidicus (see on 7.106) 7.129; also referred to by Mart. 10.46 and in other epigrams. For his lectica cf. 64 and 1589; but
it turns out to be poor support for Juvenals claim that the corrupt are unfairly
rewarded, since in fact it is only empty show and its expense will bring him to
bankruptcy (7 l.c.), like the recens sella at Mart. 2.57.6. For the name Mat(h)o see

74A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Shackleton Bailey on Cic. Ad. Fam. 9.25.3 (vol. 1, p. 454).

33 IPSO i.e. ipso solo (cf. 136), as often means . Some litters were
large enough for two normal-sized people (RE lectica 1076.21, 1079.14; Blmner1
446), but Matho is grossly fat.
DELATOR None of the identifications proposed for this character can be right,
and Juvenal probably had no specific person in mind, but simply thought in general terms of those who practised delatio under Domitian (cf. 356 and introduction).
MAGNI AMICI important friend (cf. 4.20 and 74, 3.57, 5.14, 6.313). Cf. 3.116;
Tac. Hist. 1.2 quibus derat inimicus per amicos oppressi and the narrative of Firmius
Catus and Scribonius Libo Ann. 2.2732.
34 ET connects delator and rapturus, as if it were qui detulit et rapiet; see index
s.v.
QUOD SUPEREST DE NOBILITATE go together, cf. 3.259; Pliny Pan. 69.5 si
quid usquam stirpis antiquae, si quid residuae claritatis.
COMESA Cf. 4.1514 and 97; the delatores are like beasts feeding on carrion.
Mayor is led into a misinterpretation by comparing 138, a different use of the
word.
35 BAEBIUS MASSA and METTIUS CARUS (coupled as here Tac. Agr. 45.1)
were notorious informers under Domitian; cf. Tac. Hist. 4.50.2, Mart. 12.25.5 (this
book was published under Trajan, but Carus is named simply as the type of a
delator), OgilvieRichmond on Tac. Agr. l.c., Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 7.33.4
and 1.5.3. The most famous victim of Carus was Herennius Senecio. s statements
about their condemnation as a result of prosecution by Heliodorus seem untrustworthy.
PALPAT The metaphor is again that of soothing a carnivorous animal.
LATINUS A famous mime-actor (archimimus Marius Maximus in on 4.53)
often mentioned by Martial (cf. RE s.v. no. 3 and Juv. 6.44); for the name cf. on
8.197 (it became an inherited name, cf. on 6.63; CIL 14.2408 Aelius Latinus).
Thymele (cf. 6.66, 8.197) was his female lead (Mart. 1.4.5); her name is derived
from (SG |[93] 4.260, not in ed. 10), for which cf. RE s.v. 702, Wissowa 464,
SG10 2.178 (not in Eng. transl.), Zucchelli (on 6.71) 55 (and for the
at Rome cf. RE 5 A 2517). Suet. Dom. 15.3 mentions an occasion when
Latinus reported the days news at dinner to Domitian, and Marius Maximus
(quoted by l.c. in a context dealing with delation) mentioned him as one of the
potentes apud Domitianum. The evidence that he was a delator is therefore sparse,
and we should bear in mind Heinrichs proposal to alter et to ut. Carus will then
be compared to Thymele in a mime, who, playing the part of an adulterous wife,
is sent with a present by the apprehensive (6.44) adulterer, played by Latinus, to
soothe the jealous husbands suspicions.
SUMMISSA Of a confidential mission (Cic. 2 Verr. 1.105, 3.69); there is no need

SATIRE ONE75

to see an obscene meaning in the word.

37 SUMMOVEANT A word chosen for its ambiguity; it is the technical term
for the clearing of the way for a magistrate by the lictors, and therefore means
push out of the way (cf. 3.124, Hor. Serm. 1.9.47), carrying on the picture of the
street (cf. 634 and on 32); but it is also the technical legal term for ousting from a
legacy ([Quintil.] Decl. 374 and jurists; VIR 5.710).
NOCTIBUS Nocturnal amours, as often (Lewis and Short I B 3, OLD 3c), cf.
Apul. Apol. 97, [Quintil.] Decl. 2.7 noctium merita.
EVEHIT Hor. Odes 1.1.6. Phrases like in caelum evehere, which are very common, are used with implications of both glory (cf. 10.137) and happiness (Nisbet
on Cic. De Domo 75).
39 VIA with the genitive regularly means the road to.
PROCESSUS advancement, as often, and similarly procedere; cf. producere
6.609, provehere 16.57.
VESICA Contemptuously for vulva; cf. the confusion of urine and semen at
Hor. Serm. 2.7.52, Pers. 6.73 with Henderson 50, RAC Genitalien 201 (but not
Pliny NH 8.168; see the apparatus there). The retention of this phrase to the end
intensifies its destructive effect.
BEATAE 67, 6.204; 14.210 shows how this meaning arose.
VETULAE This was how Otho prospered (Suet. 2.2); cf. also Lucian Rhet.
Praec. 24. Martials Fabianus cannot algentes arrigere ad vetulas (4.5.6), cf. 11.87.3.
40 UNCIOLAM DEUNCEM A hereditas was divided into 12 unciae (Justinian Inst. 2.14.5; the diminutive here adds a notion of contempt, a paltry twelfth),
of which Proculeius gets one but Gillo (a cognomen of the Fulvii) eleven. The
Romans used almost exclusively this duodecimal system of fractions, based on the
fact that the as had originally been a pound; cf. Auson. Ecl. 7 De Ratione Librae,
Hor. AP |[94] 32630, Colum. 5.1.812 (of land-measurement), RE Arithmetica
1114, Bonner 181, M. Voigt Sitzb. Schs. Akad. zu Leipzig 56, 1904, 107.
41 Cf. Mart. 1.58.56; MENSURAM 9.34.
AD Cf. 6.358; QUISQUE should strictly be uterque (on 8.196).
PARTES appears to be governed mainly by the verbal notion implicit in heres,
since the sense must be each inheriting a share proportionate to the size of his penis; but it is doubtless influenced by the common adverbial accusatives maximam
partem etc. (KS 1.3056).
42 I have argued in BICS 13, 1966, 38 that 424 are to be linked with 336, and
that 3741 have strayed from their place. The difficulties are three:
(1) MERCES SANGUINIS at 14.164 refers to literal blood, and though identical
phrases can be used in different senses (cf. on 12.1314, Housman on Manil. 2.617,
Fordyce on Aen. 7.509, Madvig on Cic. De Fin. 2.64, Bmer on Ovid Met. 9.164
and 177), yet sanguinis poses a problem here. Metaphors comparing voracious lovers to bloodsucking leeches are not relevant; exsanguis applied to the washed-out

76A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

looks of the dissipated (Cic. Pro Sest. 16; cf. Ovid Ex Ponto 1.10.2733) is also an inadequate defence. Sanguis sometimes means generally energy, but nowhere quite
like this. Ancient medical and philosophical sources often reveal the belief that
semen is a kind of blood, e.g. Lucr. 4.1036 (adduced by Prof. Bowersock) vestemque cruentent of wet dreams (one should not press Petron. 139.4, where Chrysis
says to Encolpius nunquam finies hunc ignem nisi sanguine exstinxeris). But if the
text is sound the reference is probably to the particular manifestation mentioned
by Theophr. Hist. Plant. 9.18.9 (after repeated intercourse)
, (reproduced by
Athen. 1.18c); for Casanovas experiences of this nature see his Autobiography vol.
4 ch. 4, vol. 7 ch. 10. However the following difficulties are graver.
(2) PALLEAT could well apply to pallor caused by loss of sanguis (cf. exsanguis
adduced above), and is in fact often applied to the vicious (2.50, Mart. 1.77, Sen.
Dial. 10.2.4 etc.), but the similes make it plain that here the pallor of apprehension
is meant (cf. 13.223). If I am right that 42 originally followed 36 the sense will be
that biting delatores have to fear that they may be finally bitten themselves (cf.
Tac. Ann. 1.74.2).
(3) Who is the subject of accipiat and palleat? Gillo presumably, but that is
harsh after the intervening quisque. One can hardly take a subject quisque out of a
passing remark which is not an integral part of the preceding sentence but a mere
epexegesis. |[95]
I conclude that 3741 have strayed from their original place because the scribes
eye, instead of the cum of 37, caught one of the other occurrences of the word at
the beginning of the line in this paragraph. They may originally have stood before
the cum of 55 or 58; see introduction for the pattern of this paragraph. 401 will
then form a parenthesis.
43 UT ANGUEM Homer Il. 3.335 (insisting on the pallor), Verg. Aen,
2.37980 (influencing Juvenals wording), Ovid Fasti 2.3412.
44 From the sublime (note that this is the only double simile in Juvenal) to the
ridiculous. The altar to Rome and Augustus was set up by Drusus in 12 B.C. as the
meeting-place of the commune of Gaul (Dio Cass. 54.32.1; CIL 13 p. 248), and as
part of his (Dio 59.22.1) Caligula held a contest in Greek and Latin oratory
there (Suet. 20), in which the vanquished had to fear among other punishments
a ducking in the Rhone or a whipping. For Gallic rhetoric see on 15.111, 7.148 and
214.
45 SICCUM fevered.
IECUR The seat of bile; cf. 6.648, viscera 13.15 (where note ardens), praecordia
13.181. This association of the liver with anger and other emotions is common in
Roman writers but rare among Greek, who generally link it with the vital functions (but sometimes with desire); cf. however Com. Adesp. 1072 K
lily-livered. See Jastrow in Studies Presented to C. H. Toy (1912) 152; Onians 849;

SATIRE ONE77

NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 1.13.4; H.-L. Hagen Die Physiologische und Psychologische Bedeutung der Leber (1961) 41 and 44.
46 PREMAT The subjunctive seems necessary (see the apparatus).
GREGIBUS COMITUM Cf. 7.142, Mart. 2.57.5, Cic. Ad Att. 1.18.1, Lucian Nigrin. 13; i.e. clientum cf. 119, 3.284, 7.44 and 142, 6.353.
HIC HIC Hardly the adverbs, since then we should expect hinc hinc, but
the pronouns one another. The meaning is hic qui spoliavit hic qui damnatus est.
SPOLIATOR PUPILLI Cf. 8.79, 10.222, 15.135; the same phrase Sen. De Ben.
4.27.5.
PUPILLI PROSTANTIS Poverty forces him to become a puer lenonius (cf. the
Fasti Praenestini for April 25, CIL 12 p. 236 = Inscr. Italiae 13.2 p. 131); cf. Mart.
9.59.34, Krenkel Altertum 24, 1978, 49.
47 ET Housman thought at more lively, but it would seem to require either
another verb, as at 3.246, or the interpretation of hic as the adverb.
HIC refers not to Marius, who being in exile cannot be seen in the streets of
Rome, but to some other criminal; then the instance of Marius follows to show
what a farce even banishment is Duff. |[96]
48 ENIM explains INANI; the condemnation is meaningless because infamia
on its own does not bring restitution (cf. 8.94, 14.153).
INFAMIA A technical legal status involving the loss of certain civic rights; cf.
Berger s.v., Kaser1 274, Crook1 83, Greenidge 28 and 155, Kinseys edition of Cic.
Pro Quinctio app. 2, Kelly 95; with reference to condemned provincial governors
Brunt Historia 10, 1961, 196.
49 MARIUS PRISCUS was governor of Africa (cf. 8.120) in A.D. 978, and on
his return was prosecuted and condemned first for extortion and then for saevitia;
his condemnation on the latter charge early in A.D. 100 (which gives a terminus
post quem for the dating of this satire) involved relegatio (Pliny Ep. 6.29.9) from
Rome and Italy. See Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 2.1112 passim, Garnsey 113 n. 4,
Bleicken 163. EXUL therefore is intended in a general sense, not in the technical
sense of exilium contrasted with relegatio. Relegatio would not necessarily involve
confiscation of property (RSV 2.287, Brunt l.c. 202); cf. Suet. Iul. 42 integris patrimoniis exulabant. Marius however, having been condemned for extortion, would
have had to make restitution (Brunt 204), and he also had to repay to the aerarium a sum paid to him for corrupt judgment. Why then, unless Juvenal is simply
stirring up indignatio without regard to the facts, is Marius so affluent and the
province in such despair? Perhaps because he was not prosecuted by the whole
province but by una civitas publice (evidently Lepcis) multique privati (Pliny Ep.
3.9.4), and therefore would have kept his gains from the rest; moreover extortion
doubtless could not be proved in some cases. For the luxurious life lived by some
exiles cf. Pliny Ep. 4.11.13 with Sherwin-White, Tac. Ann. 13.43, Dio Cass. 56.27.2;

78A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Braginton CJ 39, 1944, 398.

EXUL then is emphatic and contrasts with the man in the streets of Rome 478;
condemnation is inadequate, even exile is a farce.
AB OCTAVA BIBIT A well-behaved Roman would not commence the days
drinking until the cena began at the usual hour, the ninth (RE cena 1895.42,
MarescalchiDalmasso 70, Marquardt 2989, Blmner1 385); diurnae potationes
are condemned Apul. Met. 8.1.
FRUITUR DIS IRATIS A paradox, reversing the usual dis iratis (natus) (cf.
10.129); Sen. Herc. Fur. 33 (Juno of Hercules) superat et crescit malis / iraque nostra
fruitur, Mart. 8.30.3 aspicis ut teneat flammas poenaque fruatur.
50 VICTRIX i.e. quamquam vicisti; nominative and part of the predicate, not
vocative. Vincere causam is a common forensic phrase, but here the victory is a
Pyrrhic one.
PLORAS Cf. 13.134.
51 VENUSINA i.e. Horatian (Serm. 2.1.345).
LUCERNA Horace said that he started writing before day-break, |[97] Ep.
2.1.11213 (vigil). Late (or early) hours were typical of writers, 7.27; Mart. 8.3.1720
in a very similar context. Lucubrare and (Plut. Demosth. 8.2, Praec. Reip.
Ger. 6.1.802e) have similar associations. But Juvenal surely also suggests casting
light in murky corners.
52 AGITEM in a double sense (1) attack, which suits what precedes (2) deal
with, which applies to what follows.
MAGIS i.e. potius; 8.222 and commonly.
HERACLEAS, DIOMEDEAS For the form cf. Odyssea; generalising plurals.
The same contrast between mythological epic and poetry in contact with life is
made by Mart. 4.49 (though there tragedy may be envisaged) mentioning Icarus,
and 10.4, also mentioning Icarus; cf. Pers. 5.17. It is unusual to have punctuation
before such a spondaic ending; cf. 10.151. 502 show striking epic rhythms and
diction until fabrum pricks the bubble.
MUGITUM LABYRINTHI In a Theseis (2); cf. Sen. Phaedr. 1171 Cresius /
Daedalea vasto claustra mugitu replens / taurus biformis.
PUERO Icarus, MARE the Icarian sea, FABRUM VOLANTEM (3.25 and 80)
Daedalus. PUERO is instrumental ablative (on 13), not dative of agent. Ovid Met.
8.159 Daedalus ingenio fabrae celeberrimus artis; but it is hardly dignified to refer
to him outright as a faber, and to describe him as a flying smith is plainly comical (cf. 1011 for similar deflation of the grand heroes of mythology), meant to
ridicule epic.
55 LENO The conniving husband; Ulpian Dig. 48.5.2.2 lenocinii quidem crimen
lege Iulia de adulteris praescriptum est cum sit in eum maritum poena statuta qui
de adulterio uxoris suae quid ceperit and ibid. 30 (29).34. A similar prosecution
in the schools for lenocinium [Quintil.] Decl. 325; Ulysses is advised by Tiresias to

SATIRE ONE79

take this course with Penelope, Hor. Serm. 2.5.75 sqq.; further instances in Herter
75 nn. 956, Marquardt 78 (add CGL 6.739b s.v. ninnarus); cf. on 57.
ACCIPIAT CAPIENDI Ulpian Dig. 50.16.71 capere, cum effectu accipitur;
accipere, etsi quis non sic accepit ut habeat; i.e. capere is used of legal heirs (cf.
9.88), accipere of the provisional possession of a heres fiduciarius who accepts a
legacy as a fideicommissum to be passed on to someone else. But Juvenal hardly
has this legal nicety in mind; the idea is not that the husband passes on the whole
legacy to his wife (though this is the situation at [Quintil.] l.c. in previous note),
but that he takes it and shares it with her. Here we have an instance of the common Greek and Latin idiom whereby a compound verb is resumed by the uncompounded form; cf. on 14.326, HS 790, Watkins HSCP 71, 1967, 115, Renehan CP 72,
1977, 243. See also the next note but one.
SI sit (PR) could be right as a paratactic jussive subjunctive used |[98] in a hypothetical sense, but was probably generated via Vs sic (dittography); cf. BICS 14,
1967, 46.
SI UXORI This could arise in several ways; e.g. under the provisions of the
leges Iulia et Papia Poppaea if the husband had children by a previous marriage
and the wife had none (on 9.87), or because of the lex Voconia of 169 B.C. (see on
this RE s.v. 12.2418, Crook PCPS2 19, 1973, 43, Mommsen Ges. Schr. 3.192, Kaser1
684 and 756), according to which no citizen of an estate of 100,000 sesterces or
more could make a woman his heir. Gellius 20.1.23 regards this law as obsolete,
and the remarks of Gaius 2.274 may well be a fossil from an older text-book (cf.
on 132), but Pliny Pan. 42.1 speaks of it as still operative. Note [Quintil.] Decl. 264
(entitled Fraus legis Voconiae) p. 79.12 ius illa quidem habuit capiendi.
56 SPECTARE LACUNAR He pretends to be deep in thought, cf. Lucian Dial.
Mer. 3.3; Quintil. 11.3.160 intueri lacunaria (an unbecoming posture for an orator).
57 non omnibus dormio became a proverb from Lucilius story about a conniving husband nicknamed Pararhenchon (ap. Fest. 173 M; cf. Cic. Ad Fam. 7.24.1 and
conjecturally Ad Att. 13.49.2; fr. 1223 Marx). A similar story was told about Gabba
(5.4) and Maecenas liberties with his wife (Plut. Amat. 16.759f); cf. also Herter l.c.
on 55 and Juv. 6.140. Lucr. 3.1048 vigilans stertis.
58 One who as a boy spent all his money in racing along the via Flaminia now
hopes for an official position. CARET is past in sense, as if it were perdidit, and
PERVOLAT is the common idiom of the present after dum (causal, explaining
caret; on 6.176) in a past sense. He hopes for a praefectura cohortis sociorum (cf.
10.94), the first step in the militia equestris (7.88; Birley 13353, Dobson in Domaszewski xxxiv; H. Mattingly The Roman Imperial Civil Service (1910) 64 sqq.),
which was the preliminary to a career in the administrative civil service, with its
lucrative and important posts of procurator; thereby he will repair his fortunes,
squandered on the passion (in Juvenals eyes a vice) which he shares with Lateranus (8.147; cf. SG 2.245 = 2.29). because of its expensiveness (11.195)

80A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

is reserved for the gilded youth. Juvenal evidently implies that this man who hopes
for an equestrian career no longer possesses the equestrian census; this would
suggest a criticism of laxity in the observance of the census rules, which would be
an instance of the iniquitas (30) of Rome.
CURAM For the expression curator cohortis cf. Domaszewski 108.
DONARE of squandering Hor. Epist. 1.15.32.
DUM FLAMINIAM His flight is in quick dactyls.
FLAMINIAM Sc. viam, a common ellipse. This road went north to Ariminum;
Lateranus too uses a main road 8.146. |[98]
PUER AUTOMEDON A young version of Achilles charioteer (Automedo
meus Varro Sat. Men. 257, cf. Cic. Rosc. Am. 98, Ovid AA 1.8). For the use of Homeric and other names by Juvenal as appellatives cf. 71 and on 4.65, index names.
62 IPSE underlines the degradation, cf. 8.148.
LACERNATAE Either he has put his cloak around her to protect her from the
dust, or (which seems more pointed) this fast woman has dressed as a man (like
Dorkion in Asclepiades AP 12.161 = GowPage HE 904). Petron. 69 lacernatus
cum flagello mulionum fata egit.
SE IACTARET AMICAE Livy 39.43.3 iactantem sese scorto; Ovid Her. 12.175.
63 LIBET Though this is no longer possible (152).
MEDIO QUADRIVIO Where one can see both streets that cross each other.
CERAS Wax tablets (14.29 and 191 etc.), used for taking rough notes (Marquardt 801, Blmner1 468).
64 IAM SEXTA He is already carried in a lectica (or perhaps rather a large
sella; cf. Mart. 4.51) hexaphoros, and will in all probability soon be carried in an
octaphoros or octophoros; Blmner1 447, Marquardt 149, RE lectica 1065 and 1067.
SEXTA CERVICE i.e. sex cervicibus (HS 213, B. Lfstedt Eranos 56, 1958, 207).
Cf. 6.351 vehitur cervice (shoulder).
PATENS The opposite of clausus 124, 3.242, 4.21; cf. Sen. Rem. Fort. 16.7, Mart.
4.64.19, RE l.c. 1092.48, Blmner1 446.
CATHEDRA The seat in the litter; RE 1063, Blmner1 445.
66 MULTUM REFERENS DE M. recalling much of (DE partitive; 1.137, 3.123,
10.28, 15.92, 14.323) Maecenas, who became a by-word for luxury and effeminacy
(12.389 etc.).
SUPINO Mart. 2.6.13 deliciae supiniores etc.; but it also suggests sprawling in
a litter (Lucan 9.588 nulla vehitur cervice supinus; Pliny NH 16.174 supinarum in
delicias cathedrarum).
67 SIGNATOR FALSI The nominal form of signare falsum (Paulus Dig.
48.10.16.12, Ulpian ibid. 9.3 = Coll. Legum Rom. et Mos. 8.7.1, Mommsen2 671); cf.
8.142, Sall. Cat. 16.2. When called in to attest a friends will by his signature, he has
inserted a forged document in his own favour and signed it with his seal Falsum must mean here a forged document Duff. Cic. Pro Clu. 41 describes

SATIRE ONE81

such a fraudulent act.

LAUTUM ATQUE BEATUM Cf. Mart. 9.75.6. and on 39.
EXIGUIS TABULIS Cf. 12.125 breviter; he would only need to say Titius heres
esto or Titium heredem esse iubeo, Gaius 2.117; cf. Kaser1 687, RE Testament 1003.
TABULIS see on 4.19. |[100]
FECERIT Subjunctive either because the relative is causal or because of attraction after feratur.
GEMMA Cf. 13.138, Ovid Ex Ponto 2.9.6970; UDA so that the wax would not
stick to it (Ovid Am. 2.15.16, Trist. 5.4.56, Met. 9.568).
69 OCCURRIT In the quadrivium; cf. 6.655.
MATRONA POTENS Hor. AP 116, Cic. Pro Cael. 62.
MOLLE The wine of Cales is Athen. 1.27a.
70 RUBETA This is probably the correct reading; it is unnatural in the extreme
not to take VIRO as dative after PORRECTURA. The object of MISCET will now
be Calenum, and SITIENTE will mean causing thirst (cf. on 6.382 and 631, 7.206,
13.27 and 229; Griffith3 379 adduces Ovid AA 2.231 sitiens Canicula, Calp. Sic. 5.49
sitientes aestus), though this is not elsewhere mentioned as a symptom of this type
of poison. For the ancient belief that toads are poisonous cf. 6.659 (but hardly
3.44), Pliny NH 11.280, Aelian NA 17.12 etc.; RE Frosch 11617, Keller 2.306; they
have in fact venomous glands, but the poison would not be lethal to humans.
PORRECTURA 5.67, 6.632 etc.
71 MELIOR LUCUSTA A superior (14.212) Lucusta, Neros poisoner; there
may be an allusion to the fact that she took pupils (Suet. Nero 33).
72 PER FAMAM ET POPULUM Duff correctly explains this to mean in the
face of scandal and before the eyes of the people, a zeugma. Per populum refers
to the funeral procession on its way to the cemetery outside the walls, passing
through the forum. One should not postulate a hendiadys for per famam populi
(cf. 10.284).
NIGROS Ovid Met. 1.444, 2.198; pocula nigra Prop. 2.27.10, cf. Juv. 6.631. Dio
Cass. 61.7.4 describes how the corpse of Britannicus was as it was carried
through the forum (cf. per populum); he was a victim of Lucusta.
EFFERRE 6.175, 14.220 etc.
73 Sen. Oed. 879 nunc aliquid aude sceleribus dignum tuis.
GYARIS ET CARCERE Deportatio in insulam (the punishment for forgery
of a will, Mommsen2 677) and execution (not imprisonment; on 3.314) at Rome,
coupled also 13.2457 and 6.55764 (a similar context); cf. 10.170 Gyarae clausus
scopulis paruaque (cf. 6.564 and BREVIBUS) Seripho (q.v.). GYARIS here and
elsewhere neuter plural, also found in the forms Gyarus and -a (fem. sing., as 10
l.c.); it is hardly a generic plural meaning islands like G.. It is a barren little island
in the Aegean, a common place of banishment; cf. Dig. 48.22, SG 1.344 = 1.416,
Braginton CJ 39, 1944, 400.

82A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

74 ESSE ALIQUID Thes. aliquis 1614.49 and similarly ; 3.230 is different.

|[101]
PROBITAS Sall. Iug. 14.4 parum tuta per se ipsa probitas est; Laus Pisonis 121
probitas cum paupertate iacebit; Pliny Ep. 2.20.12 in ea civitate in qua iam pridem
non minora praemia, immo maiora, nequitia et improbitas quam pudor et virtus
habent (characteristically milder than Juvenal).
LAUDATUR Cf. 7.31, Lucan 8.485 dat poenas laudata fides. To see an implication of rejection in the word destroys the force of ET ALGET.
ET Simply and, cf. 2.3 and 20, 7.35; to translate and yet (cf. on 93) ruins the irony.
ALGET Mart. 6.50
cum coleret puros pauper Telesinus amicos
errabat GELIDA sordidus in togula.
obscenos ex quo coepit curare cinaedos
ARGENTUM, MENSAS, PRAEDIA solus emit.
This passage also illustrates the relationship between 734, with probitas and criminibus in adversative asyndeton (so a colon would be best at the end of 74).
75 DEBENT The subject is left vague.
CRIMINIBUS crimes, cf. 13.245, 14.1237, 8.266; not accusations.
HORTOS Parks; 7.79, 10.16 and 334, 6.488.
PRAETORIA Mansions, palaces; 10.161, Blmner1 77, Mommsen Hermes 35,
1900, 437 = Ges. Schr. 6.128.
MENSAS 137, 11.117 sqq.; those made of citrus wood were particularly expensive (Pliny NH 13.91 etc.), but some were also made of precious metal and jewelled
(SG 2.203 = 2.351, Marquardt 723, Blmner1 124). They are coupled with silver as
objects of luxury also Sen. Dial. 12.11.6, Mart. l.c. on 74 and 11.70.8.
ARGENTUM VETUS Silver plate, cf. 8.104, 12.437, 6.355, 7.133; the work of
old masters was highly valued (SG 2.2023 = 2.350, 20610 = 35460 with app. 49,
vol. 4.278 = app. 24, 4.301; Marquardt 680, Blmner1 407).
ET Epexegetic, cf. on 3.48, 9.57, 11.49, KS 2.25; what follows refers to one particular silver cup with a goat embossed in high relief (cf. RE emblema). This should
not be called hendiadys, cf. Kroll1 260. Mart. 8.51 describes a silver cup on which
stat caper with a Cupid riding on it; Ovid Met. 5.80 altis / exstantem signis cratera, 12.235 signis exstantibus asper / ANTIQUUS crater. Athen. 5.199e mentions
drinking vessels with a , evidently on the brim. Griffith G & R2 20,
1973, 79 takes the reference to be to a handle in the form of a goat.
77 Juvenal resumes his main theme after the indignant and ironical outburst
of 736, which might be suitably enclosed in a parenthesis. This is abrupt and
attempts have been made to soften it by transposition, but the passage has clear
links as it stands. 6972 are linked |[102] to what precedes by the notion of meeting (occurrit) in the crossroads; the punishments of 73 are suitably introduced
by the mention of forgery and poisoning, esse aliquid by lautum atque beatum

SATIRE ONE83

and potens; and the reaction on other people emphasised in 778 (quem patitur
dormire?) leads up to the poets reaction in 7980. The only possibility worth considering is that there may be a gap after 76.
NURUS CORRUPTOR AVARAE She allows herself to be seduced by her father-in-law not for love but for money; CORRUPTOR could apply either to bribery (6.541) or to seduction (4.8, 6.233, 10.304). Cf. Sen. Contr. 8.3 infamis in nurum
(also Fortunatianus 1.6, RLM p. 85.24); Catull. 67.
SPONSAE TURPES Women who betrayed their fiancs even before marriage.
PRAETEXTATUS Still wearing the toga praetexta, not yet the virilis (cf. bullatus 14.5 and on 14.4), i.e. sixteen at most, cf. 10.308 (2.170, 11.155); such was Caligula
(Suet. 24).
79 Quintil. 6.2.26 quid est causae ut ira nonnunquam indoctis quoque eloquentiam faciat?
NATURA NEGAT As it perhaps did to Lucilius, Hor. Serm. 1.10.578. The implication must be that with natura one writes better satire than with just indignatio; and, since the modesty is clearly mock-modesty (see introduction), Juvenal
must intend to convey that he has both.
QUALEMCUMQUE Not perhaps of high quality (Catull. 1.9, Hor. Serm.
1.10.88); cf. Couissin Latomus 11, 1952, 287.
CLUVIENUS Clearly some poetaster (with a rare name; CIL 5.5139, 6.15863),
who plays the same part as Crispinus at the end of Hor. Serm. 1.1. Cluvienus was
conjectured by Schneidewin at Mart. 7.90.3.
814 Having just ironically depreciated his verses, Juvenal now shows that he
can write in the grand style after all (Hor. Serm. 2.1.1315 is rather similar) and
deliberately misleads the reader as if, contrary to expectation, he were going to
write epic (524).
EX QUO depends on AGUNT 85; whatever men have been doing (for the
present tense cf. HS 305, KS 1.117) since
DEUCALION so at 15.30 Pyrrha is the beginning of history (cf. Lucian Rhet.
Praec. 20); the corruption of morals began then; Prop. 2.32.534, cf. Juv. 84.
NIMBIS Ovid Met. 1.261, 269.
82 NAVIGIO MONTEM ASCENDIT An oxymoron; the mountain was Parnassus in Ovids version, who speaks of Deucalions parva ratis 319 (Juvenal implies a bigger ship to make it more absurd) and his request for sortes 368, 381; this
word was originally applied to oracles by lot (6.583) and then to any oracle. |[103]
MOLLIA Proleptic; the rocks grew soft and warm. This is from Ovid 400 saxa
ponere duritiem coepere suumque rigorem / mollirique mora mollitaque ducere
formam. 813 have been in fine epic style and rhythm, in spite of the ironical paradox in 82; then with 84 there is a sudden descent from the sublime to the ridiculous, as if Pyrrha were a bawd.
856 Cf. 6.189

84A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

DISCURSUS as often is applied to the aimless activity of ardaliones, cf. Thes.

s.v. 1369.59 and discursare Sen. Dial. 10.14.3, SG 1.211 = 1.246; so in
Plutarch (see Wyttenbachs lexicon).
FARRAGO Mixed fodder given to cattle (White1 215), with the same mock
modesty as in 80. Juvenal probably wishes to hint at the grammarians derivation
of satura either from a platter of mingled first-fruits called satura (with reference
to which Diomedes GLK 1.485 mentions COPIA (cf. 87) ac saturitate rei) or from
a kind of sausage of varied content by that name (farcimen Diomedes, perhaps
Varros word; Juvenal will have associated this phonetically with farrago, which
in fact comes from far). See C. A. van Rooy Studies in Classical Satire ch. 1 (1965),
Coffey2 1216.
LIBELLI i.e. the collection filling Book 1, for which this poem (though written
before the Fourth; see introduction there) was composed as a preface. A depreciatory (cf. 80) diminutive, cf. Pers.1.120.
87 ET In an indignant question (Thes. s.v. 890.68, HS 480, KS 2.6); 6.342 is not
quite similar. It is typical of Juvenal that after expressing an intention (not seriously meant by him) to cover the whole range of human life, in the tradition of
satura indicated by its etymology, he proceeds to concentrate on the vitia (cf. 149;
vitiorum copia Sen. Dial. 10.12.8).
88 PATUIT SINUS The personified avaritia holds the folds of the toga wide
open to receive her gains; cf. sinum expandere (Sen. Ep.74.6) or laxare (ibid. 119.1),
stipes sinu recepere patulo (Apul. Met. 8.28). Money was regularly carried in the
sinus (gremium 7.215, 14.327). MAIOR is predicative, opened more widely.
ALEA 8.10, 11.176, 14.4; theoretically this was illegal (Blmner1 415, SG 1.218 =
1.256, Balsdon1 154, RAC Gesellschaftsspiele 861, Vterlein 7, Marquardt 848, RE
lusoria tabula 1910); but Carcopino 250 suggests that horrenti implies that Juvenal
is thinking about the Saturnalia in winter, when the prohibition was relaxed.
HOS ANIMOS <produced> such passion; the identical ellipse (but with hos
animos indicating pride) Lucan 8.5413, Sen. Tro. 339. See index ellipse; the dactyls
of 88.9 also convey excitement.
LOCULI 10.46, 11.38 (13.139); a small casket, contrasted with arca (see Blmner1
130 for both), which in 11.26 is itself contrasted with |[104] sacculus (cf. Mart. 5.39.7
loculosque sacculumque). For the arca see on 13.74.
COMITANTIBUS Cf. comites 7.107; they are personified. Perhaps Juvenal
thinks of them as milites gregarii, leading up to 912.
90 CASUM The fortunes of the gambling table (() Agathias AP
9.482.27), with a backward glance at the prime sense of the word in reference to
the fall of the dice. Cf. Anth. Lat. 193.6.
TABULAE Sc. aleatoriae, the gaming-board; Austin G & R 4, 1935, 76; Blmner1
412 n. 11, 414 n. 1, 415 and other refs. on 88.
POSITA indicates both that it is set down beside the gamblers, which goes well

SATIRE ONE85

with comitantibus, and also that it is staked (in which case too it would be put
down).
91 PROELIA Cf. arma 14.5 (there the dice; here the arma are coins) and elsewhere, Anth. Lat. 193.710.
DISPENSATORE Cf. RE and DE s.v. Marquardt 155, Blmner1 283, Crook1
187; cf. 7.219 and CIL 2.1198, 9.5177 dispensator arcae. Here the steward acts as the
squire in battle.
SIMPLEXNE FUROR This may mean that it is furor duplex (but 14.284 non
unus furor is not quite the same), first to lose the money, second to neglect the
slave; or that it is not just madness and nothing else, i.e. it is more than madness.
ET and yet, cf. 7.35 and 124, 13.91; HS 481, KS 2.27. Slaves had a right to decent
clothing (on 9.68), hence red-dere, give as their due.
HORRENTI Pers. 1.54 comitem horridulum.
94 QUIS (sc. avus) VILLAS On aedificatio see 10.225; 14.8695, 1401, 275;
SG 2.193 = 2.340.
AVUS A man of the old days; Thes. s.v. 1611.77.
FERCULA CENAVIT Hor. Epist. 1.15.34 c. patinas, Pers. 5.9 olla cenanda.
This is an inordinate number (Philo Vit. Contempl. 6.54); Augustus gave three
courses (cf. Mart. 11.31.56, SHA 8.12.3) or at most six (Suet. 74), Trimalchio four
(excluding promulsis, mensae secundae and matteae; see Friedlaenders index to
Petronius s.v. Gnge). Cf. Cato ap. Serv. Aen. 1.726 et in atrio (i.e. not SECRETO)
et duobus ferculis epulabantur antiqui (a passage used also in Servius note on
637). For SECRETO cf. 13541; Val. Max, 2.5.5 maximis viris prandere et cenare in
propatulo verecundiae non erat; Wistrand Eranos 68, 1970, 213.
95 NUNC is contrasted with AVUS, as PARVA with SEPTEM and LIMINE
PRIMO with (QUIS) SECRETO. In the old days no-one dined lavishly on his
own; now patrons do just that, and, not admitting their clients to their house and
meal, merely distribute a paltry dole outside the door.
SPORTULA dole, literally little basket. Originally one of the |[105] things
which clients might expect from the patron in return for their attendance was
an occasional invitation to dinner (132 sqq., 5.12 sqq.). When clients became too
numerous for this to be practicable, it became usual instead to distribute food
to be carried away in little baskets (sportulae); Pliny Ep. 2.14.4 in media basilica
tam palam sportulae quam in triclinio dantur seems to allude to this, cf. Mart.
13.123 and Epictet. 4.10.21. Subsequently (first referred to by Columella and Seneca) it was found more convenient to distribute money instead (so in all Juvenals
allusions; see on 3.249), usually 25 asses = centum quadrantes (1201), and this
distribution retained the name sportula (cf. the retention of the name
when the sacrificial cake had been commuted into money, Herzog Archiv f. Religionswiss. 10, 1907, 205 sqq.); the terminology seems to have fossilised also, since
SEDET suggests a real little basket, not the distribution of money. Domitian (Suet.

86A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

7) in public entertainments abolished the distribution of money and restored that

of proper entertainment (recta cena; cf. Mart. 8.50); private patrons followed this
lead for a while (so the allusions in Mart. Book 3, of A.D. 878), but money distributions soon returned.
The main sources on the sportula are Juvenal and Martial, whose last references
to it are in Book 10; the second edition of that book was in A.D. 98, so there was
probably a considerable time-gap before the appearance of this book of Juvenal.
This may account for two discrepancies between them: (1) Martial refers to distribution in the evening, which would suit the original connection with the cena,
Juvenal in the morning; or instead of supposing a change of custom we may infer
that they refer to different people, Juvenal to those who only saw their patron at
the morning salutatio, Martial to the anteambulones who attended him throughout the day until evening. (2) Juvenal (cf. 3.128) represents nobles, magistrates,
well-to-do freedmen and women as receiving the dole, Martial does not (10.75.11
does not mean this); and Juvenals statements seem too direct to be dismissed as
satiric exaggeration. It is clear from both poets that it was quite regular for one
prominent man, presumably attended by his own clients, to attend the salutatio
of another; probably it became customary for such to accept the dole as a mere
formality, possibly passing it on to his own servants or clients. We should then
have to suppose that Juvenal suppresses this to heighten the indignatio.
See in general SG 1.195 = 1.225 and 4.77 (not in ed. 10), Balsdon1 22, Marquardt
207 sqq. (211); RE clientes 53, salutatio 2066, sportula; Carcopino 174.
LIMINE PRIMO Cf. 100, 132; 3.124. |[106]
TURBAE TOGATAE Mart. 6.48.1; the formal toga (cf. 119) had to be worn at
the salutatio (3.127, 7.142), though otherwise it had to a large extent dropped out
of use (3.172); cf. SG 1.197 = 1.228, Marquardt 259 and 553, Blmner1 213, Carcopino
175. Juvenal suggests the degradation of the national dress of the Romanos rerum
dominos gentemque togatam.
RAPIENDA Sen. Ep. 84.12 speaks of the tumultuosa rixa of the salutatio.
97 TAMEN quamquam parva est.
ILLE The dispensator presumably; even satiric exaggeration could hardly put
the patronus himself in this position. He speaks in 101 and 126. Mart. 13.123 implies
the keeping of a list of clients.. For the use of ILLE cf. on 10.179.
SUPPOSITUS Cf. 6.602.
99 AGNITUS and not until then (cf. 6.579); the concentration of expression is
typical of Silver Latin. Cf. Pliny NH 29.19 alienis oculis agnoscimus.
101 TROIUGENAS 8.181, 11.95, cf. 8.56; in all cases ironically referring to the
old families which claimed to have come with Aeneas. The word is found in an
apocryphal (Latte 255) prophecy in Livy 25.12.5, then Lucretius, Catullus, Vergil.
PRAECONE So Juvenal ironically terms the nomenclator (cf. Sen. De Ben.
6.33.4, Ep. 19.11).

SATIRE ONE87

VEXANT infest cf. 7.130.

ET IPSI illi LK and some others, probably rightly.
NOBISCUM Juvenal identifies himself with the ordinary clients (cf. 159 and
Mart. 10.10.3); but it would be rash to infer that he himself in historical fact was
such. It is a bid to involve the reader, like te 37.
102 PRIOR Cf. 3.130; ADSUM = adveni.
NATUS AD EUPHRATEN Cf. 3.626 and 83; as far away as possible (8.51).
MOLLES (on 2.47) FENESTRAE Holes pierced for the ear-rings generally
worn in the Orient; Tertull. De Pall. 4.2 aurem foratu effeminatus. The term fenestrae for this is of course a joke, and the freedman himself would not have used the
word MOLLES (cf. 10.878).
ARGUERINT Potential, in sense no different from rgnt; cf. 2.24, 15.21, HS
333, KS 1.176, index verbs.
LICET IPSE NEGEM Sen. De Ben. 7.8.2; Herc. Oet. 704.
106 QUADRINGENTA Sc. sestertia; 400,000 sesterces. This is probably capital which he has amassed, not yearly income, because (1) if it were yearly income
it would naturally be quadringena (cf. 5.132, 11.19, Nepos 3.3.1, Suet. Vesp. 18), even
though not necessarily so, cf. Nepos 2.10.3 quinquaginta talenta quotannis (ibid.
7.9.3 there is |[107] better authority for distributive numbers), (2) this is the amount
of the equestrian census (14.326, 5.132; Mommsen1, 3.499, Stein 21 sqq., esp. 30 n. 2,
Nicolet 57, Wiseman Historia 19, 1970, 71 sqq.), which is aptly contrasted with the
following allusion to senatorial status; on both counts cf. 2.117, and for freedmen
equites on 7.15. On the other hand if he is speaking of capital his claim to excel the
wealth of Pallas and Licinus is yet more absurdly exaggerated (see on 109).
QUID CONFERT 8.94; 10.265, 302.
PURPURA MAIOR The broad stripe (latus clavus) of purple down the front of
the tunic of a senator, implicitly contrasted with the angustus clavus of the equites;
cf. Stat. Silv. 3.2.124 with reference to a tribunus militum laticlavius and see RE
clavus (2), Blmner1 209, Marquardt 545.
1079 A paratactic sentence; whereas C. is poor, I am rich.
CORVINUS This probably alludes to M. Valerius Messala C., cos. A.D. 58,
whose circumstances were so reduced that Nero gave him a yearly pension (Tac.
Ann. 13.34). When this pension terminated the family probably lost senatorial
rank; no later members of it held any magistracy.
LAURENTI Where Pliny kept multi greges ovium (Ep. 2.17.3; see Sherwin-White
and Sirago 229).
CUSTODIT CONDUCTAS A locator leases the sheep to Corvinus, who looks
after them and shares the profit; cf. CIL 9.2438 = FIRA 1 no. 61 p. 327 conductores
gregum oviaricorum with Sirago 147; Ulpian Dig. 19.2.9.45 grex (of goats) quem
quis conduxerat; siquis vitulos pascendos conduxit with Hartmann Mnem.2
44, 1916, 216 (arguing unnecessarily for conductus here with U, cf. 8.43 and Calp.

88A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Sic. 4.44); White1 3045, Blmner1 551.

109 PALLANTE Pallas was a freedman of Claudius or his mother, and became
rich as a rationibus under his reign (cf. Suet. 28, Dio Cass. 62.14.3); he amassed
300,000,000 sesterces (Tac. Ann. 12.53). See Oost AJP 79, 1958, 128. Juvenal shows
up the claims of this freedman, who in spite of his alleged wealth is still keen to get
a trivial centum quadrantes.
LICINIS People like Licinus (PIR2 I 381; SG 1.38 = 1.40), a rich freedman (14.306,
Pers. 2.36, Sen. Ep. 119.9, 120.19) who started off as dispensator of Julius Caesar and
was emancipated by Augustus executing Caesars will; he accumulated his wealth
as procurator of Gaul 1615 B.C. (Dio Cass. 54.21). For the combination of the general plural (on 2.3) with the precise Pallante see 10.108, 11.91; Amm. Marc. 28.1.39
Numae Pompilii similes et Catonem.
POSSIDEO Owen CR1 11, 1897, 399 thinks that the freedman with |[108] this
word means only his holding of real estate, but 12.129 is against this (there is definition from the context at 3.141, 10.225, 14.159).
110 nec cedit honori or honore Verg. Aen. 3.484. SACRO (contrasted with sanctae divitiae 112) i.e. sacrosancto, the tribunate; HONORI i.e. the honoured official
(Thes.. s.v. 2931.4), cf. 117, 3.178 and potestas 10.100. The tribunate no longer had
any real power (cf. Tac. Ann. 13.28) but was still respected (Pliny Ep. 1.23.12 cui
loco cedere omnes oporteret); Juvenal exaggerates this to denigrate the upstart.
NUPER So rapid has his rise been; cf. 3.83.
PEDIBUS ALBIS White with chalk (creta) or gypsum; when slaves were put
up for sale on the catasta this distinguished imported slaves from vernae, Pliny
NH 35.199; cf. Westermann 98b = RE suppl. 6.1008, Blmner1 279, Marquardt 172,
OConnor TAPA 35, 1904, lxxiv.
QUI For the position of this cf. on 12.14, and for the tense of VENERAT on
9.96.
112 A similar complaint in Menander fr. 614. There was a recognised dea Pecunia at Rome; Augustine CD 4.21 and 24 (Pecunia dicta est dea quae dat pecuniam,
non omnino pecunia dea ipsa putata est), 7.3 (cur obscurata est dea Pecunia?); Arnob. 4.9. All this is Varronian; R. Agahd M. T. Varronis Ant. Rer. Div. Libr. I,
XIVXVI 1824. (XIV fr. 91 and 98). She did not however possess a temple (Sen.
Dial. 1.5.2 does not mean this), but was only one of the indigitamenta.
FUNESTA PECUNIA The phrase has a different implication at Cic. Phil. 2.93;
obscena Juv. 6.298.
HABITAT The second person apostrophe offered by is less obvious (cf.
6.466) but could be due to nullAS or maiestAS.
NUMMORUM For the genitive cf. 6.560, HS 87, Shackleton Bailey 222, C. K.
ReisigF. HaaseJ. H. SchmalzG. Landgraf Vorlesungen 3 (1888) p. 538, Koestermann on Tac. Ann. 3.18.2. The word might be better printed with a capital.
115 Arnobius 4.1 lists Pax, Concordia, Victoria, Virtus; Augustine 4.21 Victoria

SATIRE ONE89

and Virtus, 4.24 Virtus, Concordia, Victoria; 7.3 Virtus; 4.20 Fides (XIV fr. 967
Agahd) with Virtus (fr. 94). All these had temples and/or altars (Varro regularly
noted this), though they were, says Juvenal, less worshipped than money. Rs firma must be interpolated; Fama (Postgate) does not appear in these lists and had
no cult.
116 CONCORDIA had several temples at Rome (the chief one being at the
edge of the forum just at the bottom of the Capitol; PlatnerAshby 138, Nash 1
pp. 2924). explains thus: saturice salutato nido non templo and ciconia, quae
contra templum Concordiae ex conlisione (consilio codd.) rostri sonitum facit, and
similarly Probus. The meaning |[109] will then be that a stork or storks had a nest
in the roof of one of the temples of Concord (like the ravens nest in the temple
of Castor, Pliny NH 10.1213), and that when passers-by hailed the temple, which
Juvenal sarcastically calls a nest (implying either that it was smothered by nests
or that it no longer served any other function and had fallen into neglect and
disrepair; CIL 6.89 = ILS 3781 refers to repair of the temple of Concord, but seems
to belong to a later date), the bird(s) replied by clattering the bill (Ovid Met. 6.97
crepitante ciconia rostro; Solinus 40.25 aves istas ferunt linguas non habere, verum
sonum quod crepitant oris potius quam vocis esse). Concordia quae crepitat will
then be an instance of the idiom discussed on 9.24, since it is not the goddess but
the temple which is envisaged as clattering (of course in prosaic fact the storks do
it, cf. 3.16). If this explanation is wrong, we have no means of interpreting the line.
SALUTATO Vitruv. 4.5.2 aedificia deorum ita constituantur uti praetereuntes
possint respicere et in conspectu salutationes facere; Plaut. Bacch. 172, Ovid Trist.
1.3.34; cf. on 6.307, Appel 66 salutare deos, Santa Consoli Riv. Fil. 39, 1911, 416.
117 sqq. An a fortiori argument; cf. 2.656, Mart. 10.10.14 and 1112.
SED resumes after the digression 11216; cf. on 15.38.
SUMMUS HONOR Cf. on 110; the consul.
RATIONIBUS Accounts; here income, at 6.511 expenditure.
COMITES Clients cf. 46.
HINC e sportula, cf. Mart. 3.30.13.
HINC TOGA, CALCEUS HINC Chiasmus. For TOGA cf. on 96; CALCEI also
had to be worn as part of Roman formal dress, like the toga (RE s.v. 1340.28 and
1344.65, Blmner1 224, Marquardt 589; cf. 3.149).
FUMUS i.e. firewood cf. 134. The ordinary fuel for heating at Rome was charcoal, which hardly smokes (Bagnani Phoenix 8, 1954, 23); but apparently firewood
was sometimes at any rate used for cooking (cf. Hor. Serm. 1.5.80, Pliny NH 19.58,
Dio Chrys. 7.105, Vitruv. 5.9.8, Apul. Met. 2.1), and, there being no chimneys (on
8.8), the rooms of the poor would be smoke-filled (Sen. Ep. 64.1, Epictet. 4.10.27).
There was a special lignum acapnon (RE Heizung 2649.62 sqq.; Mart. 13.15).
DOMI Their wants at home, contrasted with the clothes to be worn foris.
120 DENSISSIMA LECTICA Cf. 13.215, 14.144.

90A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

CENTUM QUADRANTES The sum often mentioned by Martial as the standard amount of the sportula; cf. on 95.
LANGUIDA Cf. 3.233. She has to go in a litter because of her |[110] infirmity;
whence we infer that the cost of hiring one (6.351 and on 9.143) was less than centum quadrantes.
CIRCUMDUCITUR They go the rounds of several salutationes; cf. 5.21 and
Galen. Meth. Med. 1.1 (vol. 10.2 K).
123 PETIT ABSENTI uxori sportulam. NOTA may mean that the trick is familiar to the trickster himself, or that though it is well-known to others he gets away
with it because of his skill (shown in asking his wife to pop out her head).
CLAUSAM See on 3.242; the SELLA (sedan-chair) is less luxurious than a
LECTICA (litter) 120.
1256 The most lively arrangement of this dialogue is to suppose that Galla
caput is spoken by the husband, noli quiescet by the dispensator (97). The
success of the trick rounds off the scene.
QUIESCET shell be resting, well find that she is resting, shes probably
resting; cf. HS 31011, KS 1.1423, Nutting Univ. Calif. Publ. Class. Phil. 8, 19248,
205. See on 3.23841, 9.45, 13.184, index verbs.
127 DISTINGUITUR Pliny Ep. 3.1.1; ORDINE RERUM Cf. Suet. Vesp. 21, Galen 10.23 K (Meth. Med. 1.1) and De Bonis Malisque Sucis 2.2 (CMG 5.4.2.394),
and Martials account 4.8.
FORUM Legal business began at or before the third hour, cf. Mart. 4.8.2 exercet
raucos tertia causidicos. The forum of Augustus had a statue of Apollo (Pliny NH
7.183), who has heard so many cases that he is as skilled as any barrister (cf. Mart.
2.64.8 and the statue of Lycus at Athens, Aristoph. Wasps 389 with MacDowell).
In the porticoes on either side of the temple of Mars Ultor Augustus (Suet. 31.5)
set up statues (TRIUMPHALES sc. statuae; cf. 8.1434) of all the great Roman
generals in triumphal robes, to which were added those who earned the honour
under the later emperors (for Vespasians additions cf. RSV 2.592 n. 12); cf. Sage
Historia 28, 1979, 192.
TITULOS The honorific inscriptions on the base of the statue (5.110, 8.69, Suet.
Dom. 15.2); many of those from the triumphales survive (CIL 12 pp. 186 sqq.; Inscr.
Italiae 13.3).
130 Juvenal almost certainly means Tiberius Julius Alexander, a Jew by birth
who became an apostate and eventually prefect of Egypt A.D. 6670 (Turner JRS
44, 1954, 54 thinks that he was also praefectus praetorio). Presumably he gained the
honour of a triumphal statue in recognition of his part in the Jewish campaigns
of Titus in A.D. 70 (Joseph. BJ 5.1.6 = 45, 6.4.3 = 237; J.-P. Rey-Coquais, Inscr. Gr.
et Lat. de la Syrie 7 (1970) 4011), though it would really have been a reward for his
early and vigorous support of Vespasians bid for the throne. See on him V. Burr
Tiberius Julius Alexander |[111] (1955); Bastianini ZPE 17, 1975, 274; V. A. Tche

SATIRE ONE91

rikover and A. Fuks Corpus Pap. Iud. 2 (1960) p. 188; Rey-Coquais JRS 68, 1978,
71. ARABARCHES is now regarded as identical with Alabarches and meaning a
high customs official (J. Lesquier LArme Rom. dgypte (1918) 4217, Burr 87 n.
4, Turner l.c., Corp. Pap. Iud. 1.49 n. 4, Sevenster 70). Alexanders father had held
this post, and so perhaps had he himself (Turner 59), but he had of course attained
much higher distinction. Juvenal disparages him and, in his hatred of everything
Egyptian, gives even this word a scornful flavour, leaving the reader to choose
between the contempt attaching to portitores (on 3.31) and the feeling that a Mogul (similarly applied ironically by Cicero to Pompey, Ad Att. 2.17.3; cf. Palladas
AP 11.383.4) may be a great man in his own little fishpond, but should not win
any respect at Rome. The disparagement is also imparted by NESCIOQUIS and
AEGYPTIUS (cf. on 15.126 and Tac. Hist. 1.11 Aegyptum regebat tum Tiberius
Alexander, eiusdem nationis); he pushes himself at Rome like the foreigner of 102.
131 NON TANTUM MEIERE sed etiam cacare; this elliptical use of non tantum
is quite common in Silver Latin, and conveys euphemism as here at Ovid Am.
1.4.63, 2.5.59. This was a danger to which statues were exposed; 6.309, Petron. 71.8,
CIL 3.1966, Sittl 100, Fehling 34, RAC Genitalien 21, Lebek ZPE 22, 1976, 288.
FAS EST Whereas with an emperors statue this would be treason (SHA 13.5.7) .
132 Juvenal suddenly passes from the law-courts to the dinner-hour, though
127 suggested an intention to go through the events of the whole day in systematic
order; even if we assume that the whole day is spent in court, the bath at least has
been omitted (and clients attended their patron there) and the absence of vespere
makes the transition abrupt. It has been claimed that 6.474 sqq. show a similar
negligence, but I deny this (see pp. 2212). A. Hartmann De Inventione Iuvenalis
(1908) 26 took 12631 to describe the days occupations not of the poor clients
but of the nobiles of Rome; first they attend the leve of some rich old woman (cf.
3.12830), then proceed to their legal business (as praetors or tribunes 101) beside
the triumphal statues of their ancestors (cf. 8.1434) now defiled by an upstart.
Then he took 132 to refer to the departure of the clients, not in the evening but after the salutatio in the morning. But this defence fails for two reasons: (1) if forum
triumphales refers to the activities of nobiles, the irony of pulchro is ruined, (2)
all the expressions of 132 sqq. (especially lassi and longissima) are much more suitable to the evening, I conclude that Housman was right to postulate a gap after 131.
VESTIBULIS The vestibulum (7.126) of a Roman house was outside |[112] the
front door, and this is where the clients would wait in the morning and after the
days attendance (Sen. Dial. 6.10.1, Gell. 16.5.9 etc.); cf. Blmner1 13 n. 7, Marquardt
224 sqq., RE Rmisches Haus 983, Paoli 59, Wistrand Eranos 68, 1970, 196. Shortly
after this vestibula disappeared from houses (Gell. l.c.); the mention of them by
Paulus Dig. 10.3.19.1 is presumably a legal fossil (cf. on 55).
VETERES CLIENTES Those who have long been clients, cf. 5.13 and 64; so 3.1,
6.O.30, 7.170, 9.16.

92A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

VOTA 5.18; CENAE SPES 5.166.

LONGISSIMA Stat. Th. 1.322 spes anxia mentem / extrahit et longo consumit
gaudia voto; 11.671.
134 CAULIS Vegetables were the staple food of the lower classes at Rome; cf.
3.293, 5.87, 11.7880, Lucian Saturnal. 21, Marquardt 298, Blmner1 160.
IGNIS Cf. 6.3 and on 1.120.
EMENDUS They must use their centum quadrantes to pay for the food which
they had hoped to have provided free in the patrons house. Even married men
(cf. 122) normally did the shopping, Carcopino 185; it is not apparent what their
families would have eaten if the patron had invited them.
135 Juvenal now returns to the point of secreto 95, taken up by TANTUM IPSE
136, UNA 138, SIBI 140. Hirst 667 = AJP 45, 1924, 2778 points out the chiastic
order of secreta cenavit (A), sportula (B), primo limine (C) 956 and vestibulis (C),
caulis emendus (B), tantum ipse iacebit (A) 1326. For chiasmus see my remarks
Hermathena 118, 1974, 18.
The patron is accused of or , a severe reproach (cf. 13.46)
among the sociable Greeks and Romans with their , CONvivia (141; cf.
on 5.161); cf. Cic. Cato 45, Ad Fam. 9.24.3, Plut. Lucull. 41 and Quaest. Symp. 7 pr.
SILVARUM e.g. boars (141).
VORABIT Not just edet.
REX Cf. 5 passim, 745 (8.161). This use is as old as the early writers of comedy,
who here innovated on their Greek originals (E. Fraenkel Plautinisches im Plautus
(1922) 191 sqq. Elementi Plautini (1960) 182 sqq.; Harsh CP 31, 1936, 62; Classen
Historia 14, 1965, 392; Shipp Antichthon 11, 1977, 7).
VACUIS TORIS Cf. 5.17; IACEBIT 8.173 (5.169).
1378 These lines are best punctuated as an explanatory parenthesis. The patrons (a remarkable and harsh change to the plural; see index variation) only
use one out of (for DE cf. on 66) the many fine tables that they possess; cf. 75,
11.122 and the context (esp. on 117), Plut. Lycurg. 10.1 (where he is thinking of
present-day habits) |[113] and the context with mention of hot baths etc. Seneca
is said (Dio Cass. 61.10.3; the doubts of Blmner1 125 n. 4 seem to be unjustified)
to have owned 500 tables; Martial 7.48 mentions 200, 9.23.5 100. With LATIS cf.
the dimensions in Pliny NH 13.923; with PULCHRIS Cic. 2 Verr. 4.37 maximam
et pulcherrimam mensam citream. They were called orbes because horizontal sections of the tree were used; these displaced the square table which had been usual.
Cf. Blmner1 1245, Marquardt 307 and 723.
ANTIQUIS cf. 76, Pliny NH 13.92, Sen. Dial. 9.1.7; i.e. from the Ciceronian (cf.
on 15.109) and Augustan ages, when this passion started (Pliny l.c. 102).
COMEDUNT PATRIMONIA Cic. Pro Sest. 111 etc., Mart. quoted on 140; similarly .
139 PARASITUS i.e. cliens; but irony mingles with sympathy at his way of life,

SATIRE ONE93

hence the contemptuous Greek-term (cf. 14.46).

140 LUXURIAE SORDES An oxymoron. Pliny Ep. 2.6.7 luxuriae et sordium
novam societatem.
GULA Mart. 5.70.5 o quanta est gula centiens comesse! A boar is served up for
only one at Mart. 7.59, cf. Juv. 5.116.
141 APROS, ANIMAL A generic singular in apposition, cf. Livy 5.47.3, Ovid
Met. 15.20, KS 1.21 and Friedlaenders note.
NATUM A common use even of inanimate things; Sen. Ep. 84.4 animal huic
rei genitum.
142 POENA PRAESENS Cic. De Div. 2.122, Pliny NH 14.142.
TU can mean one (on 2.61), and the plural subitae mortes 144 postulates this;
but here Juvenal also intends the reader to recognise with a shock that the criticisms apply to him.
DEPONIS AMICTUS In the apodyterium.
143 The natural and ordinary time for bathing was just before the cena, but the
gluttons of this time had discovered that digestion was temporarily promoted by
the unhealthy practice of bathing in very hot water immediately after the meal
Duff; cf. Celsus 2.17.2, Galen 7.7023 K, Plut. De San. Tuend. 11.128b, Marquardt
290, Blmner1 435. A resulting apoplexy is vividly described by Persius 3.98 sqq.,
a passage (beginning TURGIDUS hic epulis atque albo ventre and introducing
nemesis with HINC 103) which Juvenal has in mind; cf. also Cic. Ad Fam. 9.18.34
plures iam pavones confeci quam tu pullos columbinos satius est hic cruditate
(mori) quam istic fame (the point of this is that peacocks were regarded as indigestible; Galen De Alim. Fac. 3.18.3 = CMG 5.4.2 p. 356; Oribasius Coll. Med. 3.18.5
and Synopsis ad Eust. 4.17.3 = 1.80.16 and 5.134.1 Raeder) and Lucr. 6.799801.
CRUDUS PORTANS So Rasi Berl. Phil. Woch. 24, 1904, 766. I |[114] have
supported this reading BICS 13, 1966, 38 (cf. Owen. CR1 11, 1897, 400). If we read
crudus portas it is excessively awkward to construe deponis et portas rather than
turgidus et crudus; against crudum portas is the fact that outside technical medical writers crudus applied to food means only raw (cf. 15.83), and undigested
is conveyed by imperfectus 3.233. For the reading advocated cf. crudis (sufferers
from indigestion) 6.203, Persius albo ventre, Hor. Epist. 1.6.61 crudi tumidique
lavemur. On the other hand it must be admitted that undigested peacock would
be better than peacock in this context.
PAVONEM This was introduced as a delicacy in Ciceronian times (cf. above);
see RE Pfau 1417, SG 2.165 = 2.308, Blmner1 179, Andr 1345.
144 If INTESTATA has its normal sense intestate (3.274) it makes nonsense
of the line. Juvenal can mean either that the gluttons are cut off in their prime
and never reach old age, or that they die before they have made their will, but
not that they reach old age without making their will. On these lines it would be
necessary to interpret the verse to mean hinc subitae mortes intestatorum senum

94A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

(so Friedlaender), cf. Ovid AA 2.27.1 spes mortis et orba senectus; but linguistically
this is only just tolerable and fails to explain why these old men have not made
their wills. Housman CR1 13, 1899, 432 = Coll. Papers 489 therefore understands
INTESTATA to mean adeo invisitata ut teste careat, but it is very unlikely that
Juvenal would have used the word in this sense (the adverb intestato is employed
much less harshly by Pompon. fr. 113). It must therefore be corrupt, and the least
implausible solution, though it is rather weak, is intemptata (which scribes would
have spelt intentata), Corelli CR1 19, 1905, 305; cf. rara senectus Mart. 6.29.7.
145 IT However 144 is interpreted and however 145 sq. are punctuated, et is
no proper link between the general statements in 144 and the statements about
one individual in 145 sq. Housman xix. Monosyllabic forms of this verb are often
avoided; in conformity with the general tendency for short words to be replaced
by longer, they are supplanted by forms of vado (cf. 2.131) and ambulo, as may
be seen in the conjugation of French aller (see Lfstedt 2.3841, Wackernagel Kl.
Schr. 1.182). Elsewhere Juvenal uses only the challenging i nunc and i similarly on
its own 10.166 (q.v.). However it is often enough first word of the line (Ingvarsson
Eranos 47, 1949, 165, who says that Juvenal does not use this).
FABULA CENAS Cf. 11.15; fabula is the ordinary term for gossip, cf. Suet.
Dom. 15 idque ei cenanti a mimo Latino inter ceteras diei fabulas referretur. |[115]
DUCITUR FUNUS 10.240.
IRATIS PLAUDENDUM AMICIS Whereas normally a funeral would be
plangendum, here the friends (an ironical concluding , cf. 5.173
and p. 21) are disgruntled because they recollect his mean treatment of them while
still alive, 13241 (see Housman l.c. on 144).
147 ULTERIUS 9.38, 15.118; cf. Ovid Fasti 1.1956.
148 FACIENT CUPIENTQUE A paradoxical climax, unappreciated by the
prosaically-minded scribes who inverted the order; even their desires cant go beyond ours.
149 IN PRAECIPITI Above a sheer descent (Sen. Ep. 23.6 in praecipiti voluptas
<stat>, ad dolorem vergit nisi modum tenuit). Housman CR1 17, 1903, 466 = Coll.
Papers 613 interprets this to mean has come to a halt at the cliffs edge, i.e. has
gone as far as nature allows. Kidd CQ2 14, 1964, 103 (and before him to similar
effect Copley AJP 62, 1941, 221) punctuates minores. omne stetit; utere and interprets every vice has now taken up a position in danger, i.e. because society is
now as vicious as it can be, vice is particularly vulnerable and exposed to attack (cf.
Gell. 9.15.5), so I shall attack it.
UTERE PANDE Juvenal exhorts himself to use all the resources of the grand
style. The nautical metaphor is common of writers (Bramble 1668, Riedner 57,
Bmer on Ovid Fasti 1.4); e.g. Pliny Ep. 8.4.5, Libanius Ep. 106
, Quintil. 6.1.52 (cf. Bonnells lexicon s.v. velum), Cic. Or. 75. Cf. Pliny Ep.
6.33.10 dedimus vela indignationi.

SATIRE ONE95

150 DICAS This is the preferable reading; as opposed to four subjunctives, forsitan has the indicative in Juvenal only at 14.2956, and forsan at 12.125, the future
indicative being inevitable in both cases, and the indefinite second person would
in any case favour the subjunctive (cf. forsitan quispiam dixerit). 1507 is an occupatio; cf. 8.163 and p. 31.
151 Ovid Trist. 2.3356, Ex Ponto 2.5.26, Am. 3.1.25 materia premis ingenium.
152 ANIMO FLAGRANTE Cf. 165; SIMPLICITAS .
1534 Juvenal makes his interlocutor speak from the mouth of Lucilius (165).
The quoted words are epexegetic of ILLA; the question mark should be placed not
after simplicitas, but thus: an non? ? (Griffith3 381, who compares 9.389). We
cannot tell whether Juvenal is using an actual passage from Lucilius; if so, he has
made some change, since Lucilius could only scan aude.
154 Pers. 1.114 secuit Lucilius Urbem, / te, Lupe, te, Muci, et genuinum fregit in illis. Book I of Lucilius attacked Lupus (whom Juvenal cannot name in this context,
since he was probably dead when Lucilius |[116] wrote that book), II described the
trial of Q. Mucius Scaevola Augur, cos. 117 B.C. and son-in-law of Laelius. However Cic. De Or. 1.72 speaks of Lucilius as no more than subiratus at him. Yet it is
hardly necessary to assume either that Persius and Juvenal, neither of whom can
be supposed to have been ignorant of Lucilius, made a mistake, or that Lucilius
somewhere attacked P. Mucius Scaevola cos. 133 B.C., an opponent of Lucilius
friend Scipio Aemilianus.
DICTIS as often means jests, sarcasms.
155 PONE describe, portray, cf. Pers. 1.70; a metaphor from painting and
sculpture. This is a paratactic condition.
Ofonius TIGILLINUS or Tigellinus was a favourite of Nero who became praefectus praetorio in A.D. 62, and in that capacity will have been responsible for punishing the Christians for arson in 64 (see below). The interlocutor means if you
pillory a prominent man, you will be punished, but a problem is caused by naming a specific exemplum, because then the person ought to be someone alive at the
moment if he is to inflict punishment. This however would run into the very difficulty which Juvenal is trying to avoid. Therefore with his mind already running
on the solution of 1701 he names a prominent villain from the past. Cf. on 245.
LUCEBIS was corrupted to lucebit because the subject was taken to be Tigillinus.
TAEDA Lucr. 3.1017; Tac. Ann. 15.44.4 of the Christians (the text is doubtful
in detail) ut flammandi atque ubi defecisset dies in usum nocturni luminis urerentur (a penalty for arson). Cf. on 8.235 (vestis ex carta facta pice inlita there);
Juvenal will be burnt alive.
156 They are bound upright and immobile to the stake.
GUTTURE as against pectore is superior palaeographically, as the less common word, and superior in sense, because to fasten a victim by the throat involves

96A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

less trouble, consumes less material, and causes more discomfort, than to fasten
him by the chest Housman xix. Sen. Ep. 14.5 uncum et adactum per medium hominem qui per os emergeret stipitem seems to favour gutture but is probably not part
of the torture by the tunica molesta, and Pliny Pan. 34.3 certainly does not refer
to it. Pectore is probably due to a reminiscence of Verg. Aen. 7.457 or 1.44; cf. the
variants at Ovid Met. 6.236.
SULCUM (cf. 7.48) traced in the sand as the victims body is pulled away by
the hook; cf. Lycophron 268 of the furrow
left in the sand by the dragging of Hectors body. Grammatically it is perfectly
possible to understand quae from qua as the subject of deducit (cf. 15.170, HS 565);
then one will understand that the melted pitch flowing down makes a furrow in
the sand. But this does not suit LATUM. Clausen HSCP 80, 1976, |[117] 1813 thinks
(possibly rightly) that the phrasing of Verg. Aen. 2.6948 was sticking in Juvenals
mind, and argues that ranged in a long row the blazing victims would seem
to make a broad furrow of light. But make here is evasive, as DEDUCERE must
refer to the actual act of tracing a furrow, and TAEDA hovers uncomfortably between a singular and a plural notion. Housman must be right in supposing a line
lost after 156 with a subject like cadaver.
Suet. Cal. 27 Atellanae poetam media amphitheatri harena igni cremavit. On
the uncus probably mentioned in the lost line cf. 10.66, 13.245; Pliny Pan. 33.3 unco
et ignibus; Sen. Dial. 5.3.6 circumdati defossis (I cannot see that this word is of any
assistance in interpreting SULCUM) corporibus ignes et cadavera quoque trahens
uncus; Philostr. Apollon. 8.15.
158 DEDIT cf. on 13.186.
ACONITA 6.639, 8.219, 10.25; cf. RE and Kaufman CP 27, 1932, 162.
VEHATUR (3.239) DESPICIAT Either deliberative subjunctives or future
indicatives (see the apparatus) would suitably convey the indignation; cf. on 34.
PENSILIBUS PLUMIS Cf. Marquardt 724 and 737, Blmner1 116 and 446, RE
plumae; the down cushions (6.88, 10.362) in a litter seemingly suspended high in
the air as one looks up from beneath; both cushions (SG 2.1423 = 2.281) and litter
are a luxury, cf. 32, 64 and on 6.353. For pensilis cf. 7.46 and Sen. Ep. 80.8 quos
supra capita hominum supraque turbam delicatos lectica suspendit; it may alternatively mean piled deep (molles according to Servius Aen. 8.666), but despiciat
favours the other explanation.
160 DIGITO COMPESCE LABELLUM [Quintil.] Decl. 18.3 cludat ora, compescat aditus. Cf. Sittl 213 n. 4, 54 n. 7, Thes. 5.1.1124.38.
161 If you say this is the man (i.e. about whom we were talking), it is taken for
granted that the remarks made about him have been unfavourable. Of course to a
man with a clear conscience it is flattering to know that people have been talking
about him; hic est in this context Ovid Am. 3.1.20, Pers. 1.28, Mart. 5.13.3.
VERBUM a single remark; Lewis and Short s.v. II A.

SATIRE ONE97

162 The interlocutor advises what Juvenal has rejected 52 sqq., to write an Aeneid or Achilleis or Argonautica (or Hylas could come into a Heraclea, cf. 52).
COMMITTAS The word is applied to pitting gladiators against each other (cf.
6.436). The writer is spoken of as doing what he describes being done; cf. on 7.151
and Kassel Rh. Mus. 109, 1966, 9, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 2.1.18, Cairns CQ2
21, 1971, 207 n. 1, |[118] Shackleton Bailey on Cic. Ad Att. 9.2A.3, Gronovius Diatribe
Stat. ch. 22 and e.g. Plaut. Cas. 66, Pliny NH 21.13.
RUTULUM 7.68; FEROCEM Aen. 12.19.
HYLAS raptus Hylas Mart. 10.4.3 (see on 52).
PERCUSSUS ACHILLES i.e. percussio Achillis; see index nouns.
SECUTUS Into the pool; a humorous expression (cf. 10.58).
164 English idiom would preface this line with but.
ENSE (a generally poetic word not used elsewhere by Juvenal) STRICTO
Cf. Hor. Serm. 2.1.39 sqq.; one may guess that Lucilius himself used the image. It
suits his portrayal as an epic hero (cf. on 20), like Mezentius ardens, Aen. 10.689,
with infremere 711, stricto ferro 715. Juvenal too is ardens 45, cf. 153.
AUDITOR As if Lucilius were raging aloud.
FRIGIDA MENS EST Lucr. 3.299 (of timid deer).
SUDANT sc. cui; cf. 13.220: PRAECORDIA cf. 14.35; for the penalties of conscience cf. on 13.192 sqq.
168 hinc illae lacrimae Ter. Andr. 126, which became proverbial; Cic. Pro Cael.
61, Hor. Epist. 1.19.41 (cf. on 1).
IRA The singular ira, not the plural irae, is the just and proper counterpart to
the plural lacrimae, which is of another nature Housman xix.
Lucil. 1017 (Book 30) nonne ante in corde volutas? Griffith (see introduction) 64
sqq. puts this in a context of dialogue in which Lucilius defends his abusiveness.
169 ANTE TUBAS Verg. Aen. 11.424, Sil. 9.52, Stat. Th. 6.147. The metaphor of
ense 165 is carried on; cf. 14.243, 15.52. For ANTE see on 15.99.
GALEATUM See on 8.238.
DUELLI One of Juvenals striking archaisms (on 4.29). Apart from archaic
writers it is found in Horace, who evidently tried to popularise it, once in Ovid
(Fasti 6.201), then Stat. Th. 8.684, 11.282; cf. Clausen HSCP 75, 1971, 69.
1701 For the difficulties involved in mention of contemporaries in other
genres cf. Cic. Ad Att. 12.2.2, Tac. Ann. 4.33.4, Pliny Ep. 5.8.12, C. A. Behr Aelius
Aristides and the Sacred Tales (1968) 95 n. 5.
FLAMINIA For this road and its tombs cf. on 61 and CIL 6.2120, RE suppl.
13.1549, Ashby and Fell JRS 11, 1921, 134 sqq.; the Via Latina (cf. 5.55) branched
off from the great south road, the Via Appia (T. Ashby The Roman Campagna2
(1970) 153). Cf. Blmner1 505, Marquardt 3613 (where one reference should be
corrected to Varro De L. L. 6.49), SG 3.309 = 3.326. Burial within the city of Rome
was normally forbidden, and burial by the side of main roads (cf. 8.147) was very

98A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

common, the reason being that, as Roman |[119] religion afforded little solid hope
of a satisfying after-life, compensation was sought in the survival of memory and
reputation, and this could be ensured by placing an inscribed tomb where passers-by could read the inscription; hence epitaphs often address them (Lattimore
22947). See Cumont2 53; the Via Appia is still noteworthy for the tombs by its
side. explains viae in quibus nobiles sepeliebantur, but quite humble people were
buried there too; Juvenal simply means the dead in general, as contrasted with the
living (in fact he often speaks of the dead as if they were still alive, e.g. 8.39, 13.157).
On those attacked by Juvenal see SG 4.318 (not in ed. 10); some of those attacked
by Horace too were dead (Rudd CQ2 10, 1960, 1646 = Satires of Horace 138). So
the rule to Juvenal is de mortuis nil nisi malum (Otto mortuus 3 with Nachtrge 42,
189)! For mention of (but not attacks on) contemporaries see on 13.98.

[120]

Satire Two

The general theme of this satire is homosexuality and effeminacy, but the train
of thought is not organised on a systematic and logical plan. The poem begins as
if its main subject were to be hypocrisy, and the first paragraph (135) is directed
against philosophers who preach morality and live a life of immorality and homosexual dissipation; this paragraph is marked off as a unit by the technique of
ring-composition (see index s.v.), with fictos Scauros and castigata (345) recalling
Curios simulant (3) and castigas (9). The philosophers in question are Stoics (65;
cf. on 57 and 20); the members of this sect, professing austere doctrines (though
Sen. Ep. 123.15 shows how some attempted to justify dissipation), were all the more
open to criticism when they failed to live up to them. Attacks like those of Juvenal
are not uncommon. There are several in Quintilian (1 pr. 15; 12.3.12, where see
Austins notes) and Martial (1.24, 9.27, 9.47; incidentally 7.58.9 habet tristis quoque
turba cinaedos; others are referred to in the notes; for a predecessor in epigram
see Lucillius AP 11.155 with Brecht 18) which in their vocabulary resemble Juvenal,
though in these authors such attacks are probably due to some extent to Flavian
hostility to philosophers and Domitians expulsion of them (see Austin xiv sqq.;
Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 3.11.2 and appendix iv pp. 763 sqq.). Lucian often
expresses similar views (R. Helm Lukian und Menipp (1906) 40; J. Bompaire Lu
cien crivain (1958) 4867), and from an earlier period Lactantius Inst. Div. 3.15.8
sqq. quotes Cic. Tusc. 2.1112 (videre licet multos (philosophos) libidinum servos;
cf. on 5), Nepos fr. 39 Marshall = Cic. Ep. vol. 3 p. 153 Watt, Seneca Exhort. fr. 18
Haase. Compare also SG 3.239 = 3.265; the Historia Augusta quoted on 96; and
the bronze vase mentioned by Helm 42 n. 2 which shows us austere philosophers
engaged on their researches; on the cover we see the same philosophers pursuing
the homosexual tastes ascribed in Lucian to the sage who had taken her lover
from Drose (A. D. Nock Conversion (1933) 295). But the best |[121] parallel is the
attack on Stoic morals in Athenaeus 13.563d565f; this begins by quoting Hermias
who attacks Stoics as /
99

100A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

, and goes on to speak of their (cf. on 12).

These Stoics castigated both homosexual (19) and heterosexual (37) immorality, and in the second paragraph (3663) a woman called Laronia in opposition
to one of them defends her own sex as compared with men. Women, she says, at
least do not indulge in lesbianism (which is alluded to by Juvenal only at 6.311); it
is because men are bound to each other by homosexual attachments that they do
not attack the male sex, but concentrate their fire on women.
The Stoics are routed; but, says Juvenal, bad as they are, nobles who do not
even Curios simulant or fingunt Scauros are worse, such nobles as Creticus, who
is shameless enough to wear transparent clothing (this corresponding to the perfumes of the Stoic at 41). Creticus too is perhaps a Stoiciser (77), if not actually a
Stoic, and he too is initially presented as a hypocrite, for in spite of his disgraceful
dress he prosecutes adulteresses in moral speeches. But the theme of hypocrisy
now fades out (for similar modulations of the train of thought see the introductions to Fourteen and Six), and Juvenal turns to one of his favourite targets, the
degeneracy of the Roman aristocracy (proceres 121); after the Greek names and
emphasis on philosophy of 420 the poem had been brought round to Roman
history and society. The aristocracy is here represented by two figures, Creticus
and Gracchus. The transparent toga of Creticus (who is dealt with as far as 116)
provides the transition from the preceding, but is not attacked so much for its own
sake as because Juvenal sees in it the first sign that he will end up as a sexual invert
involved in the orgies of effeminate men (this resumes the theme of 547), who
really ought to be turned physically into women (11516). This is more or less what
has happened to Gracchus (11748), who was the bride in a homosexual marriage (this corresponds to 5861). But his activities as a gladiator (1438) were even
more abominable (vicit 143; just as the second stage of Creticus moral decline will
be foedius 82). Present-day moral attitudes would probably assent to this opinion
(though their assent would be based on |[122] the inhumanity of gladiatorial contests, which is not what Juvenal emphasises; see below), but it is surprising in the
mouth of a Roman, and the gladiatorial section has no clear function in a poem
concerned with sexual immorality. Housman (CR1 18, 1904, 395 = Coll. Papers 619)
found one by laying all the emphasis on the word tunicati (143), and claiming that
retiarii who wore a tunic were regarded as immoral. That theory however is mistaken (see on 8.207), and its application here only suits 143; in 1448 the contrast is
clearly between the noble descent of Gracchus and his gladiatorial activities, without any reference to sexual morality. We must therefore accept that Juvenal, after
mentioning the immorality of Gracchus, could not refrain from commenting also
on his degeneracy from his noble lineage, about which he felt strongly (8.199210,
cf. ibid. 140 and p. 23), even though that is not relevant to his main theme. Juvenal does not shrink from digressions (cf. on 9.489), and there is another one
at 1029, though that is more relevant to the subject. Moreover he has a highly

SATIRE two101

individual scale of moral values (see p. 22); to him the worst of all sins are those
against the traditional Roman gravitas (8.22030 and introduction there), and he
dislikes the gladiatorial activity more than what precedes because it happens in
public (8.203, 2056; cf. ibid. 14951 and p. 23), whereas such marriages do not
yet take place palam (136; this line shows how far we now are from the initial idea
of hypocrisy, with which disapproval of shamelessness could be reconciled, but
not of openness).
The last paragraph dismisses such people as a disgrace to their ancestors and
contrasts the corruption of Rome with Romes subjects, who at present are free
from corruption but show signs of beginning to be infected.
There is nothing to indicate the date of composition except nuper in 29 and
modo in 160. Such words are too elastic in meaning to be of any help (e.g. at 8.120
about 20 years is meant); in any case nuper is merely contrasted with the republican villains of 248. If 102 refers to the Histories of Tacitus, that would give an
approximate terminus post quem (see p. 1).
12 On the geographical conception behind these lines see J. O. Thomson History of Ancient Geography (1948) 2513; RE Okeanos 233940. Juvenal, like most
of his contemporaries, envisaged the |[123] as surrounded by Oceanus
(11.113, 14.283, 10.149); the glacialis O. is a combination of the Arctic Ocean and
the Baltic Sea, Scandinavia being regarded as an island (glacialis pontus Lucan
1.18 according to the best authority; mare congelatum Varro RR 1.2.4, cf. Pliny NH
4.94). Mention is sometimes made of a Sarmaticus Oceanus (see RE s.v.). The Sauromatae (15.125), who lived round the Sea of Azov, were in reality a more remote
(and therefore more romantic) tribe than the Sarmatae, whose confederacy now
stretched from the Danube to the Caucasus and had absorbed the Sauromatae (RE
I A 2542; M. Rostovzeff Iranians and Greeks (1922) 113). The Sarmatae are the tribe
which prose authors (e.g. Tacitus) normally have occasion to mention; but to Juvenal (who has Sarmata 3.79) as to other poets choice between the two is dictated
by metrical convenience (though Riese Rh. Mus. 36, 1881, 21314 thinks otherwise). Hence outside the nom. sing. Sarmata is replaced by forms of Sauromates.
Cf. Catalepton 9.54 Oceani finibus ulterius; Juv. 15.172.
3 CURIOS M. Curius Dentatus (153, 11.78), censor 272 B.C., is a frequent type
of old Roman virtus. The plural Curii is common in a generalising sense people
like C. (so in similar contexts to this Mart. 1.24.3, 7.58.7, 9.27.6; cf. HS 19, KS 1.72),
but here is necessary to match the plural subject (cf. 8.4 and on 35). The construction, after Hor. Epist. 1.19.13 simulet Catonem, is discussed by Lfstedt 1.246, HS
751, KS 1.93, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 1.35.22, Austin on Quintil. 12.2.7; cf.
6.O.12 and the spurious 6.614c.
BACCHANALIA VIVUNT For the internal accusative (12.128 is different) cf.
C. F. W. Mller Syntax des Nominativs und Accusativs (1908) 20, Min. Fel. 38.6

102A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

non eloquimur magna sed vivimus. The reputation of the Bacchanalia at Rome was
fixed by the events of 186 B.C., recounted by Livy 39.
4 INDOCTI Cf. 13.181 and the title of Lucians work
(see on 92), the subject of which is also an effeminate
pervert (chs. 23 and 25).
PLENA OMNIA This and seem to be basically colloquial phrases
(Hofmann p. 90).
GYPSO CHRYSIPPI Cf. Apollineo gypso Prudent. Apoth. 458. On the use of
gypsum for busts see RE (2095) and DS (1715a) s.v., Blmner2 1456, Lauffer p. 237
on Edict. Diocl. 7.30. Busts of philosophers would be placed around the houses
and gardens of these men who wished to represent themselves as philosophers; cf.
Lucian Nigrin. 2, Marquardt 615, SG 2.2667 = 3.43 (where Mart. 9.47.2 is probably rightly interpreted; in his edition Friedlaender refers it to pictures in books).
Two of the four mentioned here are Stoics (cf. 65), who |[124] have several busts
each; Pittacus, one of the proverbial Seven Sages, is somewhat incongruous, but cf.
Thales at 13.184. A terra-cotta statuette of Pittacus has been found at Pompeii (G.
M. A. Richter Portraits of the Greeks 1 (1965) 89).
5 PERFECTUS So Cato is perfect(issim)us Stoicus Cic. Parad. 2, Brut. 118; cf.
Tusc. 2.12 (on which see introduction) quosdam perfectos philosophos turpiter vivere.
6 SIMILEM This, and are often applied to portraits; cf. on 7.
7 ARCHETYPOS Originals (not copies), which were more highly valued by
Roman collectors (cf. e.g. Mart. 12.69 tabulae). Applied to portrait busts it will
suggest direct portraits of the subjects; cf. Anth. Plan. 151.1 (anon.)
(translated Dido assimulata (cf. on 6) in Epigr. Bob. 45), IG 14.1188 (Kaibel Epigr. 1084; on a Herm of Homer found at Rome) ,
.
PLUTEUM A wall-bracket (RE s.v. 985, Blmner1 11314, Anth. Lat. 158.4).
Oddly enough it is glossed (cf. CGL 7.99b), a word absent from LSJ
though recorded by StephanusDindorf and the lexicon of Sophocles; in RE it is
interpreted of wall-shelves in a sculptors studio. This word is the subject of servare; cf. 3.206.
8 The deinde which would answer to PRIMUM 4 is omitted. The primum
member of a division is often developed at such length that methodical partition
is abandoned and the second member is introduced by autem, vero or the like, or
even absent entirely (cf. 5.12; KS 2.588), though this rarely happens within such a
short space as here; cf. 44. See Munro on Lucr. 1.161.
FRONTIS In similar contexts Mart. 1.24.4, Quintil. 12.3.12. It is the site of pudor
(8.189, 13.242), but generally applies to external appearances as opposed to reality,
and hence is connected with hypocrisy (14.56).
FIDES Cf. 6.O.21.

SATIRE two103

9 TRISTIBUS , cf. 14.110; in similar contexts Quintil. l.c. and 1 pr.

15, Mart. 1.24.2, 7.58.9; cf. Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 1.10.7.
OBSCENIS A noun, cf. 6.O.2, 6.513, Livy 33.28.5 (where obsceni viri = molles
viri 2). For the combination with another adjective cf. index adjectives and KS
1.225; 111 shows a dependent genitive.
10 SOCRATICOS CINAEDOS in a similar context [Lucian]
Amores 23. The contemporaries of Socrates insist on his chastity (cf. Guthrie 3.390
sqq. = Socrates (1971) 70 sqq.), but later gossip fastened on his undoubted fondness for young men, and jocular references to this in Plato and Xenophon, to
represent him as a |[125] paederast (cf. Zeller 2.15.69 n. 2), particularly with reference to Alcibiades (Diog. Laert. 2.23, Nepos Alc. 2.2, [Lucian] Amores 54), but also
Phaedrus (Sen. Dial. 7.27.5); Lucian several times portrays him in this light.
FOSSA Thes. s.v. 1213.16 and see Goldberger Glotta 18, 1929, 57; cf. fodere 9.45,
fossor Auson. Epigr. 77 Prete 7.
11 Depilatories were often applied to the arms (Mart. 2.29.6, 2.62.1, 3.63.6); for
hairiness (SAETAE are bristles) as a sign of feigned manliness cf. Mart. 2.36.56,
6.56.
12 ATROCEM ANIMUM Like that of the Stoic Cato (cf. 40) in Horace Odes
2.1.24.
PODICE LEVI He is (cf. Aristoph. Knights 1368, Henderson 220);
cf. 8.16 and 115, Mart. 2.62.4, 6.56.4, 9.27.3, Pers. 4.3540 (where see Jahn), Athen.
13.565f (on which see introduction) ,
Clement Alex. Paed. 3.3.20.2, and on the other side Catull. 33.78, Alcaeus AP
12.30 = GowPage HE 44.
13 CAEDUNTUR MARISCAE The ordinary medical terms would be secantur ficus; Juvenal has chosen a more brutal word for surgery, and a more highly-coloured one for piles (mariscae are a large type of fig). For ficus in such contexts cf.
Thes. s.v. 654.6; Rosenbaum 122 and 411; Buchheit Rh. Mus. 103, 1960, 2279; Citroni on Mart. 1.65. It is common in scoptic (Martial, Priapea) and medical (Cass.
Fel. 74 aliud medicamentum (h)edricon, sycotice appellatum, ad podicis inversiones) writers; similarly and its derivatives in epigram and medical writers.
This is probably the meaning of (Hesychius s.v. ).
14 Cf. the philosophers at Pers. 3.812 (who however are Epicureans).
15 is characteristic of the Stoics; see Jahn on Pers. 3.54.
VERIUS more fairly, frankly; vere agere is contrasted with dissimulare Cic. De
Or. 2.351, cf. Gell. 10.22.1 vere ingenueque, 17.10.4
16 PERIBOMIUS nomen archigalli cinaedi qui publice impudicitiam perpessus
(professus Valla) est ; (but archigalli cannot be right; see on 6.512 sqq.). In IG 12
(3) 1126 appear to be a cult society. Juvenal probably did not have
a historical person in mind, but chose the name for the associations indicated by
the scholiast.

104A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

FATIS IMPUTO Homosexuality, like everything else, was often thought to be

determined by the stars (RAC Effeminatus 642); see e.g. Firm. Mat. Astr. 7.15 and
25, Manil. 4.51819, 5.14056. Similarly the point of MORBUM is that this word
removes culpability; cf. 50, 9.49, Sen. Ep. 83.20 (impudicus morbum profitetur),
Thes. s.v. 1481.54 |[126] (add Manil. 5.140), Rosenbaum 152. Likewise morbosus
(Catull. 57.6, Priapea 46.2), (Callim. AP 12.150.6 ; Dio
Chrys. 4.106 ). [Aristotle] Probl. 4.26 gives a physical cause for
perversion, and Cael. Aurel. Chron. 4.9 regards it as a mental illness, which links
up with FUROR 18 (cf. ).
17 VULTU INCESSUQUE Cf. RAC Effeminatus 629, 635. Physiognomists professed to be able to recognise perverts; cf. Clem. Alex. Paed. 3.3.15.2 (for this passage see also on 8.114)
, ,
, ,
, . The pseudo-Aristotelian Physio
gnomica 21 (Foerster Scriptores Phys. p. 34) lists (including
), and in 70 (p. 82) says ( codd.)
(cf. Foersters index under etc.). Likewise Dio
Chrys. 33.52 links , , and Zeno himself (fr. 174 Pearson,
246 Arnim) spoke of
. This is quoted by Clement, who has much to say on the subject; it is he
who quotes (cf. the context at Paed. 3.11.69.2) the typical description of inverts
from comedy:



,

.
INCESSU is lavishly illustrated by Housman on Manil. 4.51819, HeadlamKnox
on Herodas 4.36, Horsfall Glotta 49, 1971, 146 n. 2; see also Firm. Mat. Astr. 8.7.2,
Lucian Adv. Ind. (on 4) 23, Cael. Aurel. Chron. 4.9.1 gressu, Cic. De Off. 1.12831,
Tac. Hist. 1.30.1 of Otho (99 below).
18 HORUM Juvenal generalises to a class; cf. 6.110, 13.223, 14.116, index variation and on 6.95.
SIMPLICITAS Cf. Mart. 6.7.6; openness.
MISERABILIS Galen De Usu Partium 11.14 (2.156.6 Helmreich)
.
20 HERCULIS He was regarded by the Stoics (cf. 10.361) as one of their ideals,
and is contrasted by Cleomedes Meteor. 2.1.92 with cinaedi and Epicurus; cf. Zeller
3.15.276 n. 4 and 343; E. V. Arnold Roman Stoicism (1911) 2956; G. K. Galinsky The
Herakles Theme (1972) 106, 147, 167.

SATIRE two105

21 The pot should be whiter than the kettle, a common thought, |[127] e.g. Hor.
Serm. 2.7.40 sqq. The question mark at the end of this line would be better replaced by a comma, so that 212 form one sentence. SEXTUS is probably not to be
identified, though cf. RE no. 3.
CEVENTEM i.e. clunem agitantem (Petron. 23.3 spatalocinaedi clune agili);
the use and history of the word are discussed by Mussehl Hermes 54, 1919, 387 and
E. Fraenkel Kl. Beitrge (1964) 2.45.
234 These two lines are related by adversative asyndeton, and accordingly a
semicolon or colon should be placed at the end of 23 (so Leo).
LORIPEDEM 10.308, Plaut. Poen. 510, Petron. 45.11; , one with
weak misshapen legs.
AETHIOPEM ALBUS The same contrast Varro De L. L. 8.38 and 41, 9.42.
Aethiops (Thes. s.v. 1156.30; cf. 6.599, 8.33, Pliny NH 32.141) and Maurus are the
ordinary Latin for negro; cf. G. H. Beardsley The Negro in Greek and Roman
Civilisation (1929) 116, Snowden 4 and 11.
TULERIT The perfect subjunctive (cf. 6.651) in such questions is used with
identical meaning to the present (cf. MISCEAT and ferat 1.139, 6.166, 7.147); cf.
7.140, 8.30, 10.321. See Handford p. 97, F. Thomas Recherches sur le Subjonctif Latin (1938) 109, Woodcock p. 90, index verbs.
25 Cf. 6.2834, Otto caelum 1 and Nachtrge 263; add Sil. It. 13.5867.
26 VERRI 8.106; CLODIUS 6.33545; CATILINA CETHEGUM 8.231, 10.287.
28 TABULAM On which the proscribed were listed.
DISCIPULI TRES The second triumvirate, who also used a tabula (Mart.
5.69.2, Sen. Suas. 6.3 etc.). Pompey was called (Plut. Sertorius
18), cf. Lucan 1.326.
29 Domitian, whose hypocrisy in sexual matters is remarked by Dio Cass.
67.12.1 in general and by Pliny Ep. 4.11.6 on this particular case, seduced his niece
Julia (Dio 67.3, RE suppl. 6.135) and caused her death by abortion (Suet. 22; note
that neither the plural OFFAS nor TOT ABORTIVIS implies repeated abortion)
about A.D. 89 (Gsell 240, Friedlaender Martial intr. p. 57, Mooney on Suet. Tit.
4.2). Such an alliance between uncle and niece was regarded as incestuous by
the Romans, even though Claudius had legalised it in order to marry Agrippina
(Kaser1 316, Corbett 48, Balsdon2 175, RE matrimonium 2266), and hence would
have been a fit subject for a tragic plot (cf. Livy 1.46.3 tragici sceleris exemplum
of patricide). At about the time of Julias death Domitian, consistently with his
revival of the censorship (121 and on 4.12), began to enforce Augustus Lex Iulia de
Adulteriis (cf. 37 and Corbett 133); Martial |[128] refers to this in Book 6, published
in A.D. 90, and Friedlaender also thinks it referred to in 5.75 (Gsell 84).
NUPER See the introduction.
31 OMNIBUS Many people were rightly or wrongly put in danger (a case in
Stat. Silv. 5.2.99 sqq.).

106A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

VENERI MARTIQUE Both of them divinities associated with the very origins
of Rome through Aeneas and Romulus, but caught in adultery on a famous occasion recounted in Odyssey 8 (cf. Juv. 10.313).
32 ABORTIVIS sc. medicamentis, cf. 6.368, Thes. s.v. 126.71.
33 EFFUNDERET is used of abortion Manil. 2.239; and its derivatives
are similarly applied. OFFAS is a brutal word.
34 IURE AC MERITO For the pleonasm cf. 14.31.
VLTIMA As Housman explains, this looked very like VITIA (one is corrupted
to the other in some mss. at Lucan 4.147) and was therefore easily omitted through
haplography; omnia, which is unsuitable in sense, was then interpolated to fill out
the metre, and from P made its way into O (cf. BICS 14, 1967, 50 n. 17). This is one
of the rare cases of interpolation in the more honest branch of the tradition (cf.
on 9.119).
VITIA ULTIMA (Quintil. 2.2.15) in effect means vitiosissimi homines, who
are embodied vitia (Mart. 11.92.2 non vitiosus homo es, Zoile, sed vitium), such as
Varillus; cf. Sall. Cat. 14.1 omnium flagitiorum atque facinorum catervas, HS 746,
KS 1.81.
35 SCAUROS M. Aemilius Scaurus was censor in 109 B.C. and was revered e.g.
by Cicero as one of the champions of the nobiles, though suspected of venality.
Whatever the point of the plural at 11.91 (q.v.), here Juvenal is probably simply
thinking of a family associated with republican virtue (cf. 6.604); see on 3.
FICTOS Domitians censorship was hypocritical, whereas that of Scaurus was
real.
REMORDENT Hor. Epode 6.4 quid me remorsurum petis?
36 A Laronia is mentioned by Martial 2.32.5, but does not seem to be identical
with Juvenals. It is generally thought that she was an adulteress who had offended
against the Lex Iulia (30 and 37), and that she personifies the vitia ultima which
remordent, as illis = fictos Scauros. If Juvenal meant that, we should expect a particle in 36 to make it plain, and it is unlikely that he would regard mere adultery as
one of the vitia ultima.
37 quaerit ubi nunc sit lex Iulia et simul dormire eam significat. eadem brevitate Ovidius her. 4.150 heu, ubi nunc fastus altaque verba iacent? non ut quo loco
iaceant quaerat sed ut iacere significet nec usquam apparere Housman, who introduced this punctuation |[129] (more details in his note). Cf. Cic. Phil. 5.8 ubi lex
Caecilia et Didia?, Appian Pun. 112 ; Plut. Ages. 30.6,
Fronto p. 69.3.
38 Cf. 3.31214; SUBRIDENS cf. Verg. Aen. 10.742.
39 MORIBUS sc. malis. The word, neutral in itself, takes its colour from the
context; cf. Ciceros o tempora! o mores!
HABEAT PUDOREM 6.357.
40 TERTIUS CATO Only the first Cato was censor (11.90), but both were pat-

SATIRE two107

terns of morality; Mart. 9.27.14 Catoniana lingua in a context like this concerned
with hypocrisy in sexual matters. The expression is compared with sapientum octavus (Hor. Serm. 2.3.296, where Acron quotes Juvenal) and the like by O. Weinreich Studien zu Martial (1928) 18, B. Sprenger Zahlenmotive in der Epigrammatik
(1962) 16970, Vollmer on Stat. Silv. 1.2.7.
E CAELO CECIDIT Cf. 11.27 (of the advice of a god); Otto caelum 8 and
Nachtrge 53, 70, 97, 142, 264 (add Calp. Sic. 4.137), HeadlamKnox on Herodas
1.9. The verb is humorous; delapsus est would be straightforward.
41 HIRSUTO In similar contexts Mart. 7.58.8, 9.47.2.
OPOBALSAMA See RE s.v.; for its use by men cf. Mart. 14.59 (balsama on a
bellus homo id. 3.63.4). Stoics like Seneca naturally disapproved of the use of perfumes by men (RE Salben 1855.26); in particular they were often associated with
sexual inversion (cf. Scipio ap. Gell. 6.12.5 = fr. 17 ORF and RAC Effeminatus 634).
For SPIRANT cf. 7.208 and Mart. 11.8.1 spirant opobalsama; for the word-order
see on 11.85 and 12.1314.
COLLO Perfumes for the neck Aristoph. Knights 4902 and Antiphanes Tho
ricii fr. 106 (2.53 K, 2.209 E, 3.56 M).
42 DOMINUM TABERNAE shop-owner Mart. 1.117.14.
43 LEGES AC IURA Cf. 72. OMNES 44 follows as if only leges had preceded;
this is due to Scantinia sc. lex.
VEXANTUR disturbed from their sleep (37), cf. 1.126.
44 SCANTINIA de Venere nefanda; not Iulia (37). In fact Domitian enforced
this law too (Suet. 8.3, where see Mooney); see on it RE suppl. 7.411 (but there are
no solid grounds for calling it Scatinia).
PRIMUM See on 8.
45 The divergence between hi, qui, nam strongly suggests that all of these are
interpolated, and therefore I follow Herwerden 397 in reading FACIUNT PEIORA (see BICS 14, 1967, 47); cf. 6.134, 14.57, Dracont. De Laude Dei 2.331 faciunt
peiora nocentes. Juvenal postpones nam only at 11.21.
46 NUMERUS Tac. Ann. 14.49.3 plures numero tuti.
IUNCTAEQUE UMBONE PHALANGES For the military formation |[130]
behind this metaphor cf. Lucan 7.493, KromayerVeith 135; RE ,
Wheeler Chiron 9, 1979, 310.
47 MOLLES 165, 8.15, 9.38.
CONCORDIA pulchre convenit improbis cinaedis Catull. 57.
ERIT will be found to be; cf. on 1.126.
479 Martial thought otherwise (7.67, 9.40); see Citronis edition of Book 1 p.
281.
EXEMPLUM DETESTABILE Livy 26.48.11.
TEDIA A well-attested name; PIR1 T 368, ILS 7918, 4284 = CIL 6.10293 and 3
suppl. 7280. Medius (see the apparatus) seems to appear only in Ann. Epigr. 1959

108A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

no. 93 in the genitive Medi (though it has sometimes also been detected on ILS
4702 = CIL 13.2895); it might represent the rare Maedius (Schulze LEG 185), but is
clearly a corruption under the psychological influence of media (acc. neut. plur.)
lambere, cf. Mart. 2.61.2, 3.81.2, 7.67.15, 11.61.5; Catull. 80.6.
LAMBIT cf. 9.5.
FLORA A courtesan name, RE s.v. 2749.35.
CATULLA 10.323, Mart. 8.53 (where however the choice of name may have
been influenced by the fact that the poem is based on Catullus).
50 HISPO Juvenal may have chosen this name as recalling the hispida membra
of 11; cf. on 3.251. On the name and its bearers see Syme JRS 39, 1949, 1415 = Syme3
72 and 143 and add C. Baebius Hispo (Ann. Epigr. 1966 no. 101); cf. Hispulla 6.74,
12.11. Hippo, as read by PRS, is not a Roman cognomen.
SUBIT Cf. Priapea 33.2.
MORBO UTROQUE Cf. on 16. The meaning is not as in Clement quoted on
17, but that he is both paedicator and pathicus; cf. Housman CR1 17, 1903, 393 n.
1 = Coll. Papers 608 Between and the Romans saw no incongruity, but they did see incongruity between and . Other
homosexuals both active and passive in Lucillius AP 11.216, Lucian Adv. Indoct.
(cf. on 4) 25 and 23.
PALLET Cf. on 1.43 and Henderson 211 .
512 This is contradicted by 6.2425 (and Val. Max. 8.3 lists women who pleaded in the courts; cf. Plut. Comp. Lycurg. et Num. 3.6); cf. pp. 256. PAUCAE 53 is
not necessarily contradictory of 6.246 sqq., though he does not there imply that
athletic women (cf. also 6.421) are few; in Six he portrays exceptions as the rule.
CIVILIA IURA Hor. Serm. 1.9.39 (with novi); for ius civile (cf. Bednara ALL 14,
1906, 557).
AUT Cf. on 9.74; FORA on 13.135. |[131]
COLPHIA This is the spelling of almost all mss., including PSR, and should
be retained, though in Greek it is (Andr Rev. Phil.3 40, 1966, 48). On
the word, which denotes an athletes diet (evidently prime cuts of meat), see He
raeus 85; Mart. 7.67.12 mentions a woman who eats 16 coloephia.
54 VOS is contrasted with NOS 51. Aristoph. Birds 831 depicts Cleisthenes as
spinning; Ctesias reported this of Sardanapallus (FGH III C vol. 1 no. 688 p. 444
Jacoby; cf. also Cleomedes De Motu Circulari 2.1 p. 166.25 Ziegler, Plut. De Alex.
Fort. 1.2.326f) and Clearchus (ap. Athen. 12.516b; fr. 43a Wehrli Schule des Aristoteles 3) of Midas; Omphale was also said to have submitted Hercules to this.
Probably Laronia is thinking of these rather than any actual cases at Rome.
TRAHITIS The operation of carding the wool (Blmner2 1.109, Marquardt
503).
CALATHIS See Blmner l.c. 131 for these work-baskets.
55 PRAEGNATEM Cf. gravidos [Verg.] Ciris 446.

SATIRE two109

56 PENELOPE who is often referred to in the Odyssey as .

LEVIUS levi pollice Ovid Met. 6.22 of Arachnes spinning.
57 As in all slave-societies, so at Rome slave-women were often made the mistresses of their owners (Marquardt 66, Balsdon2 215 and 230, Kroll2 2.40, Westermann 74b and 118b; cf. Sen. Contr. 6.3 and the ancillariolus of Sen. De Ben. 1.9.4,
Mart. 12.58.1; also Musonius Rufus p. 66.2 Hense); presumably the pressum quasillis scortum of Sulpicia ([Tib.] 3.16.3) was such. Naturally many wives objected
and took every chance to punish their paelices; the CODEX is a block of wood
corresponding to a ball and chain (Plaut. Poen. 1153, Prop. 4.7.44, preceded by
mention of extra wool to spin as another punishment). But the point of the line is
obscure; the wording does not suggest, as the context demands, delicate work, and
seems rather to lessen than to emphasise the effeminacy of the men. Moreover
with STAMEN as the antecedent of QUALE, 57 would more naturally precede 56.
Perhaps a line has been lost after 56 which said that the men produce fine work,
not rough spinning like that of the paelex. There is nothing at all in favour of
Housmans idea that there is a reference to Antiope.
58 TABULAS IMPLEVERIT 6.601; cf. on 4.19. SOLO Cf. 12.124.
Pacuvius Hister (12.111 sqq.) was a captator, the puella (cf. 6.258 and O.32, 9.74)
the young wife whose complaisance he bought; the word does not in itself imply
that she remained a virgin. For limitations on inheritance by women see on 1.55;
even gifts between husband and wife (VIVUS alludes to the legal phrase donatio
inter |[132] vivos; Ulpian Dig. 5.2.25 pr., Marcian ibid. 39.6.27) were limited by the
strict letter of the law (Dig. 24.1; Kaser1 331, Corbett 114, RE donatio 1538, H. J. Roby
Roman Private Law (1902) 1.159, F. Schulz Classical Roman Law (1950) 1201).
60 MAGNO TERTIA LECTO cf. the situations at Sen. Contr. 2.1.35, Apul. Met.
9.27.
61 TU is addressed to any puella; cf. 153, 3.200 (and cf. on 289), 8.38, 9.50, 14.48
(6.312).
CYLINDROS Pearls of this shape (Pliny NH 37.78 and 113 etc.); Thes. s.v.
1586.63, Blmner1 262 and 2 3.283, Marquardt 7023, DS s.v. 1696b.
62 tum quoque sic lata est sententia tristis Ovid Met. 15.43.
63 CENSURA Generally; there is no allusion to Domitians censorship.
CORVIS COLUMBIS Cf. Otto corvus 2 and Nachtrge 266; columbae are
chaste (Pliny NH 10.104, Thes. s.v. 1732.20, Thompson1 241, Enk on Prop. 2.15.27,
Citroni on Mart. 1.109.2), whereas corvi, which prey on columbae (Varro RR 3.7.6),
were thought to have sexual intercourse by the mouth (Thompson1 160; corve
fellator Mart. 14.74; Pliny NH 10.32 from Aristotle Gen. An. 3.6.756b).
64 CANENTEM She is inspired like a prophetess, hence VERA; cf. 8.1256.
65 STOICIDAE A humorous formation which avoids Stc (cf. on 154) and
with its grandeur amusingly contrasts with FUGERUNT TREPIDI. For the patronymic cf. Sext. Emp. Adv. Math. 6.19, Dio

110A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Chrys. 36.56, Helm on Lucian Nigrin. 30, Stevens on Eur. Andr. 1124, Juv. 8.234.
65 sqq. An argument a fortiori, cf. 1.11720, 6.617, 8.198; in all cases corruption
begins at the top. This form of argument was taught in the rhetorical schools, Ad
Herenn. 4.18.256.
66 MULTICIA Fine cloth generally used only by women (11.188); cf. Blmner1
253 and 2 142, Wild Philol. 111, 1967, 151 (who ignores the implication of transparency in 78) and for the word Thes. and WaldeHofmann s.v., Leumann Kl. Schr. 21.
Beside the comic fragment quoted on 17 Clement appears to quote another (37 M,
338 K and E), which should perhaps be restored thus with Edmonds,
.
67 CRETICE Cf. 8.38; there of a descendant of Q. Caecilius Metellus Creticus,
who celebrated his triumph over Crete in 62 B.C. Probus takes the reference to
be the same here, but if the women mentioned are correctly dated in Domitians
time that cannot be right, since the Caecilii Metelli had long been extinct. refers
it to a Iulius Creticus qui sub Caesaribus illustris causas egit; and since men of this
|[133] name are known (CIL 6.32409 = ILS 4924, 10.3948, 12.5872) he may well on
this occasion have known what he was talking about. Mart. 7.90.4 also mentions
a Creticus. Similar names in Juvenal are Bithynicus (15.1), Ponticus (8.1), Allobro
gicus (8.13), Gaetulicus (8.26), Asturicus (3.212), of which the third and fourth,
and probably also the second, perhaps the fifth, likewise commemorate victories;
cf. Mnzer 355 n. 1, Mommsen Rm. Forschungen 12 (1864) 524, Reichmuth 53.
PERORES This may mean that Creticus has the place of honour among the
prosecutors, speaking last (cf. Cic. Brut. 190, Orat. 1.30; Suet. De Gramm. 30), cf.
Tac. Ann. 2.30.1, 3.17.3; but sometimes the verb seems to be rather vaguely used
(Quintil. 11.1.61, Suet. Cal. 53.1, Pliny NH 29.9) of emotional declamation such as
might be expected in perorations.
6870 These are adulteresses, who when condemned would leave off the stola
and wear the toga like meretrices (Mart. 10.52, scholiasts on Hor. Serm. 1.2.63; the
point of Mart. 2.39 and 6.64.4 is ambiguous; cf. Bmer on Ovid Fasti 4.134). Creticus is probably acting as prosecutor under Domitians revival of the Lex Iulia, and
these are some of the probrosae feminae of Suet. 8.3 (cf. Dio Cass. 67.12.1).
PROCULAS 3.203.
POLLITTAS Names ending in -itta are pet-names (SG 4.88 (not in ed. 10);
Schulze LEG 77; Lattes ALL 8, 1893, 496; Doer 21213; Hasselrot, Studia Neophil.
16, 19434, 89), cf. Gallitta 12.99 and 113; these are derived from Polla (cf. AP 7.334
5) and Galla.
FABULLA The diminutive of Fabia (Schulze LEG 461). She is mentioned also
by Martial 4.9 and 12.93 (cf. too 1.64.3 and 4.81) with the same variant as here.
CARFINIA A perfectly well-attested name (Thes. onom. s.v., Schulze LEG 353).
Ulpian Dig. 3.1.1.5 mentions Carfania (v.l. Cafarnia) improbissima femina, apparently alluded to also by Val. Max. 8.3.2 as Cafrania (see Thes. onom. s.v.; the ms.

SATIRE two111

of Julius Paris had Cafrinia before correction); but her improbitas consisted in
impudence, not immorality.
70 IULIUS ARDET Mart. 10.62.7 fervens Iulius; Pliny NH 11.78 vestes bombycinae are worn even by men levitatem propter aestivam. AESTUO 3.102.
INSANIA Cf. 14.287; the insane rip their clothes.
72 EN Sarcastic as often (6.531, 9.50); for the accusative cf. KS 1.273.
HABITUM The multicia, a sign of degeneracy from traditional gravitas.
FERENTEM talking about. |[134]
73 Soon after their victories (cf. 162) and before their wounds had healed the
Romans of old came to the forum; the implication is of a continuous series of wars
and victories, they were never at peace for long.
74 iura dabat populis posito modo praetor aratro Ovid Fasti 1.207 (cf. Blmner1
537); the idea there has more point as indicating the humility of the supreme magistrate.
MONTANUM Of the seven hills of Rome (cf. 8.239 and the festival of the Septimontium celebrated by the montani, Latte 112); but it also suggests toughness
and rusticity, cf. 6.5, 8.245, 11.89, Caesar BC 1.57.3, Cic. De Leg. Agr. 2.95 (where
however the reading is uncertain), Livy 9.13.7 (and similarly ).
756 IUDICIS, TESTEM Contrasted with the actual prosecutor.
77 ACER ET INDOMITUS An ironical quotation from Lucan 1.146, where it is
applied to Caesar. LIBERTATIS presumably means in particular, but
we should perhaps infer that Creticus is a Stoic (66); cf. Wirzubski 146.
PERLUCES He wears vestes perlucidae, through which his silhouette can be
seen; cf. 66 and Pan. Lat. 2.33.4 (p. 108.26 Mynors) illos tenero perlucentes amictu
et vix leve carbasum vitando sole tolerantes.
78 LABEM IN PLURES Cf. the carmen arvale (CIL 12.2, 6.2104) neve lue rue sins
incurrere in pleoris; Varro ap. Non. p. 168 saepe unus puer petulans atque impurus
inquinat gregem puerorum (following a comparison with sheep).
SCABIE ET PORRIGINE Otto scabies 1 (add Grattius 410 sqq.); cf. Lucil. 982
corruptum scabie et porriginis plenum (of the old lion), and Juv. 8.34.
81 quotes a proverb uva uvam videndo varia fit (Otto uva) corresponding
to . LIVOREM refers to the colour of ripening
grapes Hor. Odes 2.5.10, Prop. 4.2.13. But Juvenal appears to be giving the proverb
a new application; the Greek form refers to envious emulation (which is not in
point here), and this apparently suggested to Juvenal the word livor, which often
indicates envy. Yet it is desirable for grapes to ripen, and the line may be spurious
(cf. BICS 22, 1975, 158).
DUCIT Cf. Verg. Buc. 9.49.
82 A similar prophecy with QUANDOQUE 5.171.
83 Cf. Quintil. 7.2.33 neminem non aliquando coepisse peccare, Sen. Ag. 153 extrema primo nemo temptavit loco. Cases like these passages of Juvenal (cf. also

112A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

10.7 and 3067) and Seneca show very clearly how the gnomic perfect arose, cf.
Wackernagel 1.179, HS 318, KS 1.132. Compare also [Quintil.] Decl. 1.6 (p. 8.5 Lehnert) nemo inde coepit quo incredibile est pervenisse. |[135]
83 sqq. Presumably Juvenal actually did know of some secret society which
carried out such a parody (more sinistro 87) of the rites of the Bona Dea (better
printed thus in 867, cf. 6.314). We are reminded of the alleged parody of the
Eleusinian mysteries by Alcibiades, and the (Lysias ap. Athen.
12.551e). In 6.O.212 Juvenal speaks of domestic cinaedi who use mascara (cf. 93)
and wear hair-nets (cf. 96), but otherwise no light is shed on this passage. Transvestism was for obvious social reasons a rare perversion in the ancient city-state;
cf. Athen. 13.607f, Quintil. 5.9.14, Dio Chrys. 4.105 (Sen. Ep. 122.7 is not a reference; cf. 47.7).
84 DOMI They are a secret society.
REDIMICULA See RE s.v.; the term has more than one application (to the
references in RE add Isid. Or. 19.33.5; for the various glosses see CGL 7.190), but
here doubtless means the bands hanging from the mitra (cf. on 6.516), ordinarily
worn only by women; for the wearing of female head-gear by sexual inverts see
RAC Effeminatus 631.
85 POSUERE For the variation of tense cf. on 14.2278.
MONILIA RE s.v. 123, Blmner1 263; see RAC ibid. (Quintil. 11.1.3 monilibus
deformentur viri). TOTO suggests a kind of choker. Omphale makes Hercules wear monilia collo Ovid Her. 9.57; Pygmalion decks out his statue with longa
monilia collo and redimicula, Met. 10.2645.
86 ABDOMINE i.e. sumine; Pliny NH 11.211 antiqui abdomen vocabant (sc. sumen) priusquam calleret, incientes occidere non ausi. A sow (Macrob. Sat. 1.12.23)
was sacrificed to the Bona Dea, and a crater of wine also had a part in the rites
(Wissowa 217, Latte 2289, T. P. Wiseman Cinna the Poet (1974) 131); hence the
accusation of drunkenness 6.31519, 9.117.
879 Normally no man would be admitted; Juvenal probably has in mind
Prop. 4.9.69.
ite profani (which Juvenal cuttingly alters to the feminine) was regularly proclaimed before ceremonies (RSV 175 n. 5, Appel 83); cf. Verg. Aen. 6.258. Cf. on
6.329 and 14.45.
90 GEMIT Of musical instruments 7.71.
TIBICINA Normally even the instrumentalist (psaltria 6.337) at the festival of
the Bona Dea had to be female; for the tibia in her cult cf. 6.314.
CORNU Wind instruments were sometimes made of horn (DS tibia 302 n.
23; Blmner2 2.394), but the reference, as at 6.315, is probably to the double Phrygian oboe (flute is a misleading translation) which had one straight pipe and
one curved like a horn; DS l.c. 312b; RE Aulos 2420.52, Howard HSCP 4, 1893, 35,
Fleischhauer |[136] 7687 (e.g. Hor. Odes 1.18.14 Berecyntio cornu, Ovid Met. 11.16

SATIRE two113

infracto Berecyntia tibia cornu; Thes. cornu 968.1).

912 Cotyto or Cotys was a Thracian goddess of the orgiastic type whose cult
was briefly received in a few places in Greece. The name Baptae for her worshippers, derived doubtless from a ritual bath (cf. Scheftelowitz Arch. Rel.-Wiss. 17,
1914, 364; Borzsak Acta Antiqua 1, 19512, 203), is otherwise known only from
the title of a comedy by Eupolis (we cannot tell whether it was an actual cult title,
which seems more probable, or invented by the poet to fit his plot), and, as
suggests, that is probably how Juvenal knew it. s note is this: Baptae titulus
libri quo impudici describuntur ab Eupolide, qui inducit viros ad imitationem femi
narum saltantes (calcantes codd.). [Lassare] (a misplaced lemma). Baptae autem
molles; quo titulo Eupolis comoediam scripsit, ob quam ab Alcibiade, quem praecipue perstrinxerat, necatus est. Valla has this: (Probus ) Baptae comoedia, inquit,
fuit in qua Eupolis inducit viros Athenienses ad imitationem feminarum saltantes
lassare psaltriam Cotyton (this last word should perhaps be a lemma; Srebny Eos
33, 19301, 513). Cotytos apud Athenienses psaltria, quam effeminati colunt noctu
illam adeuntes. It is always hard to be sure how accurately Valla reports Probus,
but unlike they do specifically put the cult of Cotyto and the scene of the play
at Athens. It is known that Eupolis referred to the cult of the goddess at Corinth,
and it has been denied (e.g. by Srebny Ml. Cumont (Brussels 1936) 1.424) that
she was worshipped at Athens or that the play was set there. Juvenal however
(dismissed by Wilamowitz Glaube der Hellenen (1931) 2.174 n. 1 as ein wenig ge
bildeter rmischer Dichter) with Cecropiam does seem to support ProbusValla,
and it is easier to imagine Alcibiades in a play set at Athens, where Bendis was
certainly worshipped; it is naturally possible that Juvenal had not direct knowledge of Eupolis or that his memory failed him, but we have no automatic right to
assume that we know better than he did. The fragments of the play are in Meineke
2.447 (cf. 1.119), Kock 1.273, Edmonds 1.330 (cf. SchmidSthlin 1.4.123); fr. 77 K
and E is on a male player of the tympany and lyre who dances lasciviously. It
has been supposed that the cult was observed by women and that Alcibiades was
concerned in a transvestite parody of it, as later of the Eleusinian mysteries, but
it is much more likely that Nilsson 1.835 is right in seeing the transvestism as an
integral part of the cult, as it is of many others (cf. also Wiesner Die Thraker (1963)
1256). Cf. Synesius Ep. 44 (Migne Patrologia Gr. 66 col. 1372)
; Lucian Adv. Ind. 27 says that
the Baptae should make the ignorant pervert (cf. on 4) blush with conscience.
The cult had phallic associations (cf. on 95); Synesius Calvit. Encom. |[137] 21.85bc
a man careful about his hair (cf. 96) shows that he is a and
(i.e. Cotyto) ; Catalepton 13.19 non me
vocabis pulchra per Cotytia / ad feriatos fascinos / nec deinde te movere lumbos in
ratulam / prensis videbo altaribus.
COTYTO The correct spelling, as read by Weidner and according to Achaintre

114A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

by Par. 3110. Cotyton has the best manuscript authority, but the termination is
wrong (Goold HSCP 69, 1965, 13 and NeueWagener 1.481).
LASSARE fastidio foedissimarum libidinum (C. A. Lobeck Aglaophamus (1829)
1012 n. 9); the other interpretations suggested by Meineke FCG 1.120 n. 67 are
feeble.
TAEDA The rites were nocturnal; for the use of torches in mystery cults (cf.
SECRETA) see on 15.1412.
937 All this is strongly reminiscent of the priests of the Dea Syria at Apul. Met. 8.27.
934 Long eyebrows were regarded as beautiful, Ovid AA 3.201, Claudian 10
(Epithal. Nupt. Honor.) 268 quam iuncti leviter sese discrimine confert / umbra
supercilii, Dares 13 Briseidam superciliis iunctis, Gow on Theocr. 8.72.
FULIGINE Thes. s.v. 1523.58, Blmner1 437, RAC Auge 959; Pliny NH 28.163 and
168, Pollux 5.102 , Antiphilus AP 11.66.2 = GowPage GP 1096
(according to Meinekes emendation);
Clem. Alex. Paed. 3.2.7.3. Cf. 6.O.21, though that refers to the following cosmetic
operation.
TACTUM The more difficult and much better attested reading (cf. BICS 14,
1967, 46); cf. Persius 3.44 oculos tangebam olivo, Prop. 4.3.60 voluit tangi
parca lucerna mero, Cato Agr. 90 id oleo tangito, Pliny NH 28.44 aqua oculos
tangant, Apicius 8.7.8, 8.8.7; see also Thes. contingo 714.57, attingo 1146.74, and
Lucan 2.536.
ACU Not the type for sewing, but that for arranging the hair (6.497); Blmner1
262, RE Nadel 1550, 1554, DS acus 63, C. Barini Ornatus Muliebris (1958) 31.
945 This describes the application of a black line round the eyelids within
the eyelashes; normally this would be done only by women and orientals (called
Xen. Cyrop. 8.1.41, 8.8.20), and in men it is a sign of effeminacy (RAC
Effeminatus 634). Many references to it will be found in Blmner1 437, Thes. and
LSJ II s.v. calliblepharon; LSJ s.vv. II, II, V
( , ; add Lucian De Merc. Cond. 33, Philo De Spec. Leg.
3.7.37, Chariton 1.4.9 of effeminate men); Clem. Alex. Paed. 2.10.104.1
. The usual material was called stimmi or stibium (and various related |[138] forms), i.e. antimony; see LSJ s.vv. , ,
. Pliny NH 33.102 (cf. 29.115) mentions its use in calliblephara, saying
that it was also called platyopthalmus and that it dilates the eyes (but K. C. Bailey
The Elder Plinys Chapters on Chemical Subjects (1929) ad loc. says that in fact its
action would be to darken and contract the eyelids; with Pliny cf. Dioscorides
5.99). See also Pliny 11.154 palpebrae mulieribus infectae cotidiano; tanta est
decoris adfectatio ut tinguantur oculi quoque (which does not really support tinctum here; nor does the very similar Varro Sat. Men. 370); Ovid AA 3.203 (after the
eyebrows, cf. on 934) oculos tenui signare favilla. Ecclesiastical writers find this
a congenial subject for denunciation; e.g. [Cypr.] Laps. Susannae 30 nigro pulvere

SATIRE two115

lineamenta oculorum pingere; Tertull. De Cultu Fem. 1.2.1 illum ipsum nigrum pulverem quo oculorum exordia producuntur (but note that this verb does not apply
to the same operation as in Juvenal); 2.5.2 oculos fuligine porrigunt (v.l. collinunt,
colligunt), for which see on 6.O.21.
TREMENTIS The eyelids flutter as they are held up for application of the pigment inside the lashes; 7.241 is different.
95 VITREO PRIAPO Ablative of instrument, as 6.304, 10.256, 12.47 and
often. Vessels were often made in obscene shapes (RE Phallos 17423; G. R. Scott
Phallic Worship (1950) pl. 20 and 24; M. Grant Erotic Art in Pompeii (1975) 1301;
Dover 133; F. Oelmann Materialen zur rm-germ. Keramik, I, Die Keramik des
Kastells Niederbieber (1914) 55 and fig. 34), particularly of Priapus (H. Roux and
M. L. Barre Herculane et Pompi 8 (1862) 180). produces the word drillopotae,
from = verpus. The special point of these vessels is that by drinking through
the phallus the appearance of fellatio would be presented; but it must be remembered that many extant specimens are of apotropaic feeding-bottles for children.
96 RETICULUM See RE s.v. and 6.O.22; naturally this belongs to women. For
its wear by sexual inverts see RAC Effeminatus 631, Brandenburg 132.
AURATUM As often (Blmner1 263 n. 3). Verg. Aen. 4.138 crines nodantur in
aurum according to Servius refers to a retiolum; see also Balsdon2 255. Cf. SHA
17.11.7 specie philosophi, qui improba quaedam pati se dicerent, qui maritos se habere iactarent (cf. 117 sqq.).
INGENTIBUS is characteristic of the effeminate (RAC Effeminatus
632). Perhaps Juvenal conceives him as imitating the tall hair-styles of women
mentioned 6.502 sqq.
97 SCUTULATA On this type of material see Blmner2 1.167, Marquardt 531,
Lauffer p. 268 on Edict. Diocl. 20.11, von Lorentz Rm. Mitteil. 52, 1937, 208, Wild
CQ2 14, 1964, 2636 (who does not mention the comparison with a spiders web at
Pliny NH 11.81). |[139] Wild thinks that Juvenal refers to a check or tartan pattern
composed of different shades of blue.
GALBINA Mart. 1.96.9 mentions a man who wears dark clothes but has galbinos mores, which makes the poet think him a vir mollis; ibid. 3.82.5 a dandy wears
galbina at table. It is clear that normally only women would wear them, like Fortunata (Petron. 67.4). Cf. croceis 6.O.22.
RASA The toga rasa was a summer garment (Mart. 2.85.4) introduced under
Augustus (Pliny NH 8.195).
98 ET (cf. index s.v. and 14.219) connects indutus and iurante. An oath by the
genius of men addressed, to which the Iuno of a woman corresponds, was common (Bmer 10736 = 4 (1963) 21720); hence the interjection eiuno, like ecastor
(Charis. p. 258.3 Barwick) ; cf. Wissowa 177.
99 SPECULUM Men made little use of mirrors; RE 32, RAC Effe
minatus 629, Scipio l.c. on 41, Sen. NQ 1.17.10 quicquid mundus muliebris vocaba-

116A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

tur, sarcinae viriles sint, omnes dico, etiam militares (of mirrors).
99100 Otho is implicitly contrasted with Vergilian heroes (Aen. 12.94 hastam,
Actoris A.s.; 3.286 clipeum, magni gestamen Abantis); he is as proud of his mirror
as if it were a trophy of war. Juvenal does not mean that the mirror of ille is identical with that of Otho; see on 5.44.
PATHICI OTHONIS Suet. 2.2, Mart. 6.32.2 mollis (cf. on 47); for his effeminacy cf. Suet. 12.
102 NOVIS Whereas antiqui annales would tell of virtus. For NOVIS RECENTI cf. 6.11 and often, and see on 15.33 (recens being the opposite of vetus).
ANNALIBUS, HISTORIA This is often taken as a reference to Tacitus; he
should have mentioned (cf. lugendus 8.266) Othos mirror, but did not (Syme1
776; but constantia (cf. 105) at Hist. 2.47.3 is irrelevant). In Hist. 1.88.3 Tacitus does
record the instruments of luxury brought by some of Othos army. In that case
ANNALIBUS will of course refer to the literary form of the Historiae, not to the
Annales (which may not in fact have been so entitled; see Goodyears edition vol.
1.857). In 106 Tacitus was composing the books of the Histories concerning Titus,
and perhaps some of his work was published in 107 (Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep.
7.20; Wellesleys edition of Histories 3 pp. 56). Juvenal probably did have Tacitus
in mind here, since the only other person he could have intended is Pompeius
Planta ( here and Pliny Ep. 9.1); though RES MEMORANDA need be no more
than a stock rhetorical turn, as at Pliny NH 37.20. For another possible reference
to Tacitus see on 15961. Professor |[140] Nisbet would prefer to translate while
the annals (which at the time recorded this) are still new and the story is fresh.
1029 A digression which should be put in parenthesis; HIC 110 refers back to
the orgy at which ille tenet speculum.
1047 The literary form of these lines is unsatisfactory. It is all but impossible
to take constantia (consistency) and it is harsh for the first clause to
have no noun to correspond to it when the whole passage is composed with careful antithetical symmetry. Again, the anaphora of summi with two different nouns
(cf. 10.1912) ought to imply a contrast between these nouns, so that in 1045
Otho should be acting in his capacity as dux, in 1067 as civis; cf. Vell. Pat. 2.29.3
(of Pompey) dux bello peritissimus, civis in toga modestissimus; 2.99.1 civium
post unum eminentissimus, ducum maximus (Tiberius). In fact there seems no
good reason why the emperor should here be called civis, though in itself this is
possible (Prop. 3.11.55, Pliny Pan. 2.3, Suet. Cal. 49.1 with various implications; cf.
the spurious line 6.559). Thirdly the verb adfectare ought to refer to usurpation,
but at the first battle of Bedriacum (which is the campaign referred to by Tacitus
adduced on 102) Otho was the man in possession and Vitellius the usurper. I have
therefore come to accept Nisbets (234) deletion of summi campis as the only
way to cure all the difficulties. .
104 SUMMI DUCIS 10.147; here ironical, cf. on 4.145. But the phrase can mean

SATIRE two117

also simply the emperor, Mart. 1.70.6, 6.91.1.

105 CURARE CUTEM A Horatian phrase (Epist. 1.2.29, 1.4.15; cf. Serm. 2.5.38
pelliculam curare, Pers. 4.18), but by him used metaphorically.
106 BEBRIACI CAMPIS The form of this name in Bebr- is found in [Juvenal],
his scholiasts, and Priscian GLK 2.69.22 (who is probably thinking of this passage).
Celtic cognates are quoted by Herr Rev. Phil.2 11, 1893, 208, but the forms in Bedrand Betr- found in other authors are probably more correct. The proper Celtic
form would have -cum (Schulze LEG 11 sqq., esp. 15), but [Juvenal] has been influenced by Latin adjectives in -cus (cf. Matticus Mart. 14.27.2). Bebriacum is a
noun, but place-names are often turned into adjectives without adjectival suffixes
(6.544, Mart. 9.42.1 campis Myrinis with the note of Heraeus, HS 427, KS 1.233,
Wackernagel 2.59, Schulze LEG 535, and contrast Tac. Hist. 2.70 Bedriacensibus
campis). The adjectival form Bebriacis is presented not only by PS but also by the
scholiasts on 99 and 106 (in the singular), and Priscian refers to the word as an adjective. Yet on the whole Bebriaci deserves preference as more liable to corruption.
SPOLIUM solium is favoured by the common combination of adfectare |[141]
with nouns such as regnum, and could easily have been corrupted because of 100;
but it is not really supported by the passage of Claudian adduced by Clausen (quis
solio campum praeponere suasit avito? where it refers to a weavers stool), adfectare is also combined with words like opes (Livy 24.22.11, 37.53.5), and it is doubtful
whether a throne of Rome would be spoken of before the establishment of the
court ceremonial of the later despotism (Alfldi 243 = Rm. Mitt. 50, 1935, 125).
107 On bread-poultices see 6.461 sqq. and Blmner1 436; on Othos use of them Suet. 12.
1089 Cf. 1623.
108 Semiramis, the semi-mythical Assyrian queen, was famed both as lover
and warrior.
ORBE region as often; cf. axis 8.116 and Housman on Manil. 4.677.
109 MAESTA would presumably refer to the time after her defeat, but one
would not expect her to use cosmetics then. Perhaps we should read saeva, which
is confused with maesta at Stat. Th. 1.592 and could have been corrupted via vaesa;
at 7.60 there are special reasons for the variant.
110 Any table is sacred; 6.O.4, RE mensa 947.57 and add Plut. Quaest. Symp.
7.4.7.704b, Quaest. Rom. 64, Arnob. 2.67 (for oaths by the table see Festus 124).
But here the reference is probably to the table on which the offering of 86 would
be placed; cf. Macrob. Sat. 3.11.38 with the commentary of von Jan, RE l.c. 946.37
(where Festus 157 is quoted without warning in a much supplemented form);
hence and its derivatives.
111 As Housman points out, whether turpis is taken as genitive or nominative
singular, an absurd combination is produced, respectively Cybeles et libertas et
senex and libertas Cybeles et loquendi. Cybele est (so the respectable Vat. 3286)
is bad in sense, for Cybele is not present; turpi (F. P. Nash in his edition of 1892)

118A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

gives a clumsy, overloaded phrase. It is best to follow Housman in taking tur

pis as substantival (cf. on 9) and nominative plural; this termination (see Neue
Wagener 2.60) was obsolete in Juvenals day and is not elsewhere convincingly
supported by his mss. (though P twice offers it; at 11.3 AH read omnes), but here
has the advantage of avoiding homoeoteleuton, which when both syllables receive
the metrical beat Juvenal avoids except with noun and adjective in agreement or
co-ordinate words (otherwise I have noticed only 6.573 cuis manibs, 9.40 t
cevt, 14.176 qu fier). Note that at 6.O.3 (which may be compared for the sense
of turpis) O spells omnis turpes similesque cinaedis. If this defence fails to satisfy,
we might read |[142] typanumst (cf. 6.515, 8.176, though there Juvenal uses the form
tympanum).
FRACTA VOCE Characteristic of the effeminate, 6.O.23, RAC Effeminatus 636
(add Phaedr. 6.9.2, Tac. Ann. 14.20.5, Pliny Ep. 2.14.12 and cf. also Quintil. 1.11.1),
Krenkel Arethusa 8, 1975, 385 n. 22.
LIBERTAS Not like the libertas of Creticus (77).
112 FANATICUS See on 4.123; here of a priest of Cybele, as Livy 37.9.9, 38.19.4,
Prudent. Perist. 10.1062; for ANTISTES cf. CIL 8.234001 and CEL 111.26. This is
one of the turpis Cybeles, who, effeminate themselves (though not actually eunuch
Galli; cf. 11516 and contrast the ingens semivir of 6.513), gladly participated in this
parody of the rites of the Bona Dea.
CRINE ALBO Cf. canus Ovid Fasti 4.339.
GUTTURIS For the chanting; cf. 6.51517. Cf. Lucan 4.496 magnum et memorabile fatis / exemplum.
CONDUCENDUS Cf. 15.112 (6.558).
115 TAMEN relates to the following relative clause (cf. 8.272, Ovid Fasti 3.553),
which in effect is concessive.
11516 CULTRIS ABRUMPERE They usually employed a sharp stone or potsherd (6.514) for castration, but mention is also made of knives (culter Mart. 9.2.14;
Cumont1 225 n. 39, Graillot 296, RAC Gallos 1004, Bmer on Ovid Fasti 4.237 and
add novacula Prudent. Perist. 10.1081, Philippus AP 6.94.5 = GowPage
GP 2724); the reason for the divergence in practice is not clear. Abrumpere is a less
obvious word than absci(n)dere, presented in Claudians imitation of this passage,
and is chosen for its implication of brutal hacking; cf. vena revulsa Prudent. l.c.
1074.
TEMPUS ERAT Mart. 4.33.2 etc.; cf. on 3.163 and Ronconi Athen.2 21, 1943, 11.
117 GRACCHUS is again attacked in 8.199210. He was one of the Salii (1256
and on 8.2078), and oddly enough the badly copied and evidently fragmentary
inscription CIL 6.1515 mentions a Ti. Sempronius Graccus (sic) who was a Salius
Collinus (cf. on 126); but he cannot be identical with Juvenals Gracchus as he was
of Augustan date (RE Sempronius 1427 no. 58). The marriage is like those of Nero
with Sporus and Pythagoras (Suet. Nero 28, Tac. Ann. 15.37.4, Dio Cass. 62.28.23

SATIRE two119

and 63.13.12; in the last passage it is remarked that the usual prayer for children
was included, cf. 137). Mart. 12.42 is very similar to Juvenal (cf. also 1.24), and see
too SHA quoted on 96.
QUADRINGENTA DEDIT SESTERTIA DOTEM The bride gives (cf.
6.137, q.v.) her husband enough to make him an eques (1.106, |[143] 14.326); the
dowry is also mentioned Mart. 12.42.5 and in the accounts of Nero.
118 i.e. sive tubicini, cf. 8.26; non tuba derecti, non aeris cornua flexi Ovid Met.
1.98 and the trumpet at Veget. 3.5 contrasted with aes curvum ibid. 2.7 (see on
14.199). The trumpeter probably performed in the ceremonies of the Salii (Wissowa 557) or of the amphitheatre (143, 3.34, 10.214).
119 TABULAE nuptiales cf. 9.756, 6.200; SIGNATAE sealed by witnesses
10.336 (see Tacitus quoted there on all the following). Cf. RE tabulae nuptiales,
Marquardt 48, Blmner1 355. Papyrus specimens are printed in FIRA 3 no. 17 and
discussed by H. A. Sanders TAPA 69, 1938, 104 and Michigan Papyri 7 (1947) no.
434 and 444; Wenger Arch. Pap.-Forsch. 15, 1953, 140.
FELICITER auspex dicitur paranimphus qui interest nuptiis eo quod primus
feliciter dicat Schol. Bern. Lucan 2.371.
INGENS Though Augustus had tried to limit expense at the marriage breakfast
(Gell. 2.24.14; cf. SG 1.235 = 1.277).
120 CENA i.e. cenantes, cf. on. 5.82; on the wedding-feast cf. 6.202, Blmner1
357, Marquardt 523.
SEDET Guests reclined at a Roman meal, but they sat while waiting for it to
begin (Blmner1 397).
GREMIO Apul. Met. 6.24 accumbebat maritus, Psychen gremio suo complexus.
IACUIT Under the Republic she would have sat; SG 1.248 = 1.292, Blmner1
364 and 386, Marquardt 3001. For the line ending cf. Ovid Her. 13.139 nova nupta
marito. Note the perfect following sedet; many examples are collected by Friedlaender on 1.157.
121 PROCERES See on 4.73. The occurrence of O here and in 126 indicates
strong emotion.
CENSORE An allusion to Domitian (see on 30, and also on 14.50).
HARUSPICE To suggest a procuratio for such a monstrum (122, 143); cf. 13.62
and Aurel. Vict. Caes. 5.5 (Nero) lecto ex omnibus prodigiosis.
122 HORRERES Sc. magis from maiora. Monstrous births are a common form
of portent, cf. Wlker 16.
124 SEGMENTA flounces cf. 6.89, Marquardt 548, Blmner1 255 and 2 1.212.
LONGOS HABITUS The stola and instita (Blmner1 351 n. 3).
FLAMMEA The wedding-veil, orange in colour, cf. 6.225, 10.334 (q.v.),
Blmner1 3512, Marquardt 45, Wilson 1412; particular mention is also made of it
in the accounts of Nero and in Mart. 12.42.3 (cf. on 117). There is a strong contrast

120A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

between the dress of a bride and that of a Salius.

125 ARCANO LORO Mart. 6.21.9 in a different sense. The |[144] shields were
carefully stored away (condere, cf. Thes. ancile 27.22) except during the March festivals and that on 19 October; they were probably kept in the Regia, though there
is some doubt about this (Wissowa 144, 556; RE Salii 1880; K. Gross Die Unterpfnder der rm. Herrschaft (1935) 1089).
126 SUDAVIT saltus saliaris as an exercise Sen. Ep. 15.4; here the word is deliberately undignified.
CLIPEIS ANCILIBUS ancile is usually a noun, but arma ancilia is found (Thes.
2.27.27).
1268 There were two colleges of Salii, the Palatine which worshipped Mars
(cf. 128) and the Colline (cf. on 117) which apparently worshipped Quirinus (Latte
113 n. 3, Wissowa 154 and 555, Gerschel Rev. Hist. Rel. 138, 1950, 145), here as usual
(3.67, 8.259, 11.105) identified with the deified Romulus, pater urbis. The Romans
are Romulidae (Lucr. 4.683, Verg. Aen. 6.638, Pers. 1.31); compare the famous lines
of Ennius
o pater, o genitor, o sanguen dis oriundum,
tu produxisti nos intra luminis oras.
For the conception in general see Alfldi Mus. Helv. 11, 1954, 134, Heubner on Tac.
Hist. 4.58.6, Weinstock 200 sqq. and add e.g. Verg. Aen. 8.134 Dardanus, Iliacae
primus pater urbis; cf. on 8.244 and Housman on Manil. 4.718.
PASTORIBUS 3.67, 8.275; cf. 74 above.
NEPOTES The Romulidae were grandsons of Mars, but probably no specific
relationship is intended; cf. Hor. Odes 1.2.35.
URTICA 11.168; similarly produces . The touch (TETIGIT) of
the nettle stings. At Petron. 138 Encolpius is whipped with nettles to restore his
virility.
129 TRADITUR in matrimonium.
GALEAM QUASSAS Lucian Dial. Deor. 20.10 as a threat; Mars being helmeted, this corresponds to the usual caput quassare, a sign of anger (Sittl 82 n. 10;
more in Thes. caput 390.34, though not all instances there quoted indicate anger).
NEC See on 3.102.
TERRAM CUSPIDE PULSAS In Greece to smite the ground with ones staff
is a sign of strong emotion (Aesch. Ag. 202; Plut. Solon 29.7, Phocion 33.10, De
Def. Orac. 7.413a); the god of war naturally uses his spear instead. Cuspis properly
means the sharp metal tip of a spear, then by synecdoche the whole spear, even
when (as here and Verg. Aen. 12.386) the blunt end of the wooden shaft is more
in point.
131 NEC QUERERIS PATRI Cf. 13.113 (q.v.); as he does when wounded by
Athene, Iliad 5.872 sqq. |[145]
VADE See on 1.145; Sen. Phoen. 622 vade et id bellum gere.

SATIRE two121

CAMPI i.e. Martii, where he had his altar (10.83; Wissowa 142); the word
should be printed with a capital.
SEVERI Mart. 10.30.2 severi oppidum Martis; the Campus Martius was the
scene of many state activities.
NEGLEGIS Hor. Odes 1.2.35.
132 OFFICIUM A word applied to all social obligations (3.239, 5.13, 10.45), often in the early morning; of weddings 6.203, Suet. Nero 28.1 (cf. on 117) etc. Cf. p.
18, SG 1.209 = 1.243, Marquardt 261, Blmner1 355 and 381. The crowds gather early
for the wedding at Stat. Silv. 1.2.229.
IN VALLE QUIRINI This form of reference hints at degeneracy from Quirinus, cf. 126 and 8.14. Beer 62 points out that this valley is probably mentioned also
by Ovid Fasti 4.375, though there again most mss. read colle, a clear interpolation
from other passages where the more familiar collis Quirinalis is meant (see BICS
14, 1967, 46).
134 NUBIT Cf. Mart. 1.24.4; the bride is here and normally the subject of this
verb, cf. 137.
135 ADHIBET 5.16, Suet. Cal. 25.1 etc. Cf. Ter. Haut. 981 modo liceat vivere,
Ovid RA 391.
FIENT, FIENT Cf. p. 32; an emotional figure.
PALAM They begin at present domi (cf. 84).
136 ACTA The Gazette (7.104 and see in general SchanzHosius 1.3802) had
a court column which might cover the noble (145) Gracchus; cf. 9.84, RE Acta
293.65, Marquardt 88.
137 INTEREA Until that (1356) happens.
138 Cf. on 117. The purpose of marriage in Juvenals time was almost exclusively
considered to be the procreation of legitimate children (cf. the tabulae mentioned
on 119; the very word matrimonium means mothering), and the first divorce at
Rome involving a guiltless wife was said to have been because of sterility; cf. Varro Sat. Men. 553, Balsdon1 834, 2 20910, RE nuptiae 1482, matrimonium 2260,
Daube PCA 74, 1977, 16 sqq. and note fecunda 6.162. Mutual affection between
man and woman as a motive for marriage only becomes prominent later than
Juvenal (though adfectus maritalis is a familiar concept within marriage), and
divorce was easy and common. Plut. Amatorius 23.768f Periander
, and cf. Mart. 12.42.
PARTU RETINERE MARITOS Cf. Dio Chrys. 15.8.
139 MELIUS QUOD Cf. bene quod (Thes. s.v. bonus 2122.84).
141 A fat quack with her fertility drugs, like the one mentioned by Marcian
Dig. 48.8.3.2 who was relegated for causing death by giving a medicamentum ad
conceptionem; cf. RE medicamenta mala. For |[146] fertility drugs see Hippocrates
passim, Schneider fecunditas and sterilitas, Andr 174 n. 105.
142 PALMAS Plut. Caes. 61.2; probably originally the whole body was whipped

122A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

(Ovid Fasti 2.445). For the activity of the Luperci cf. Latte 847, Wissowa 210,
Sachs AJP 84, 1963, 267, Porte REL 51, 1973, 172 sqq., Bmer on Ovid l.c. 425 and
Frazers commentary vol. 2 pp. 3312, A. W. J. Holleman Pope Gelasius I and the
Lupercalia (1974).
1438 should be placed in parenthesis; see the introduction.
TUNICATI See ibid. Gracchus activities as a gladiator are mentioned also in
8.199210, and his tunica in 207. He performed as a retiarius, and retiarii were
usually nudi (on 4.49), i.e. clothed only in a subligaculum. Suet. Cal. 30 mentions
a tunica (but the point is obscure), and so on some representations (Bull. Archeol.
Napolitano n.s. 1, 1852, tav. 7; a mosaic in Colin 365 after Rev. Arch.1 8.2, 1852, 407;
Faccenna Bull. Mus. d. Civilt Romana 16 (= Bull. Comm. Arch. Rom. 73, 194950,
appendix) 4, and 19 (= B. C. 76, 19568) 52; Reeve CR2 23, 1973, 125 n. 2). At 6.O.9
13 a retiarius qui nudus pugnare solet refuses to associate with one who wears a
turpis tunica, cf. 8.20910. The reference is simply to the costume of amateurs, citizens acting as gladiators; for such see 11.58, SG 2.4850 = 2.5961 and 2.17 = 2.19.
FUSCINA Cf. 8.204 tridens, SG 4.173 = 4.261, RE retiarius 692.36.
FUGA 8.206; from the secutor.
1456 The Manlii Capitolini and the Aemilii Pauli (8.21) had by now died out;
we hear of a M. Iunius Silanus Lutatius Catulus (PIR2 I 836), there were a few
Claudii Marcelli (PIR2 C 9224) and Marcellini, and the many Fabii (6.266, 8.14
and 191) did not belong to the old patrician family. There is something to be said
for Catulis Paulique (Lipsius Epist. Quaest. 4.25), as it is hard to be sure which of
the two well-known Catuli Juvenal had in mind (the elder 8.253); but see the similar ambiguity at 8.105. 145 is a massively grand line.
GENEROSIOR An exaggeration.
147 PODIUM The front row, where the senators sat, and at this time also the
imperial family (Trajan having removed the pulvinar or imperial box, Pliny Pan.
51). Cf. RE podium 1145.30, SG 2.4 = 2.5, Balsdon1 25960, Cameron2 176.
IPSUM Presumably Nero, as says; he used to watch toto podio adaperto, Suet.
12.2.
ADMOVEAS i.e. addas; MUNERE ablative of time, cf. Lucil. 149 and HS 147.
149 Iliad 23.103 / |[147]
(where is a variant); Prop. 4.7.1 sunt aliquid manes (whence probably CIL 11.1616
= CEL 1190.3 si tamen at manes credimus esse aliquit). Aliquid here has some faint
manuscript support and was conjectured by Burman (on Prop. l.c. and Anth. Lat.
2 p. 41) and Schrader, but cf. CIL 6.3221 and 32784 si sunt aliq. inferi (evidently
meaning aliqui), 12735 si qui estis manes; contrast Ovid Fasti 6.366 putant aliquos
scilicet esse deos with Met. 6.543 si numina divum / sunt aliquid, and note that at
Ex Ponto 2.1.55 the mss. read sunt quaedam oracula vatum.
150 COCYTUM Of the three sources of Liutprands text, one reads contum
and one coitum corrected to conitum. A Zwickau ms. of Juvenal is reported to

SATIRE two123

read cochetum. Contum is due to Verg. Aen. 6.302, where Charon is described
propelling his cumba (303, cf. Juv. 151 and Petron. there adduced; the usual word
for Charons boat); but this would be a strange detail to single out, the boat is not
relevant until 151, and Cocytum is confirmed by Vergil 297. For the asyndeton cf.
12.46, 15.135. Cf. CIL 6.14672 = ILS 8156 = IG 14.1746 ,
.
RANAS Thinking of Aristophanes.
NIGRAS Like everything in the underworld (J. Andr tude sur les Termes de
Couleur (1949) 342, 363; Radke 15).
151 A rationalistic argument; cf. Sen. Herc. Fur. 5557, Petron. 121.117, Cons. Liv.
358 (Lucian Dial. Mort. 12.5 and Sil. It. 13.761 are special cases).
152 NEC PUERI CREDUNT And of course Juvenals descriptions at 3.2657
and 13.4952 must not be taken to indicate credulity. Cf. Sen. Ep. 24.18 nemo tam
puer est ut Cerberum timeat, and on the general question of belief see Latte 287
n. 4, SG 3.297 = 3.316, S. Dill Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius (1905)
4956, Bailey edition of Lucretius vol. 2 p. 994, Cumont2 127 and 3 83, Lattimore 78.
Pliny NH 7.189 puerilium ista deliramentorum commenta sunt.
NONDUM AERE LAVANTUR The usual price of admission to the public
baths was a quadrans (6.447) for a man, but children in some cases at least were
admitted free; RE Bder 2749, Meusel 102, Blmner1 422, Marquardt 3223 and
274, Carcopino 254.
153 TU Cf. on 61; PUTA cf. 5.7.
CURIUS recalls 3. He fought against the Samnites and Pyrrhus, Fabricius
(9.142, 11.91), who was censor in 275 B.C., against Pyrrhus, Camillus (16.15) against
Veii and the Gauls. They are often associated as patterns of old Roman manhood
(see Otto under their names and add Mart. 7.58.7; Val. Max. 4.4.11, Plin. Pan. 13.4
with Scipiones).
SCIPIADAE A hybrid form coined (by Ennius? It is known first in Lucilius)
when Scp would not fit a hexameter (Ennius var. 3 gets |[148] round this by correption, Scipi invicte); Juvenal could incorporate Scipio but not Scpnes, and in
any case the grand form suits the context. Verg. Aen. 6.843 (where see Norden)
also has the plural, followed by mention of Fabricius and the Fabii.
CREMERAE LEGIO The 306 Fabii killed in 406 B.C. by the people of Veii; cf.
Lucan 2.46 Cannarum Trebiaeque iuventus. Cf. Ogilvie Commentary on Livy
IV 359.
IUVENTUS fighting men as often; Gell. 10.28 and (with a false etymology)
Varro ap. Censorin. 14.2; cf. iuvenis 8.51.
156 TOT Probably to be taken with ANIMAE. Cf. Lucan 1.447 fortes animas
belloque peremptas; compares id. 6.786 lustrales bellis animas, also in a list of
traditional heroes.
1578 Such means of purification imply the primitive view that pollution is

124A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

physical; cf. 6.522, Verg. Aen. 6.7402 with Servius, Gruppe 88990, E. R. Dodds
The Greeks and the Irrational (1951) 367, Bmer on Ovid Fasti 2.35, DS lustratio
14089. For the use of a branch of laurel to scatter water see RE Lorbeer 1439 sqq.
(esp. 1442.12), Abt 79 n. 1, Eitrem 87 and 130; Ogle AJP 31, 1910, 28890; for sulphur
RE Schwefel 798 (line 62 on the taedae for burning it), Eitrem 247, Bmer on 4.739,
Gow on Theocr. 24.6.
159 The supposition of 153 is now treated as fact. For TRADUCIMUR cf. 7.16,
8.17, 11.31; the Romans are led like captives in a triumph, though seemingly victorious (162).
15962 are very Tacitean in content (details follow), cf. on 102.
ULTRA LITORA IUVERNAE Juvenal exaggerates; Agricola (Tac. Agr. 24,
where see OgilvieRichmond) planned an expedition against Ireland but did not
carry it out. As well as Hibernia, Ireland was called Iuverna (Mela 3.6.53, Ptolemy
and others listed by W. PapeG. E. Benseler Wrterbuch der Griech. Eigennamen
(1884) s.v. ) and (RE Hibernia 1389). Syme Ammianus and the Hist.
Aug. (1968) 140 calls attention to Claudian IV Cons. Honor. 33 Hiberne, Cons. Stil.
2.251 Iuerne or Hiberna according to the mss.
161 ORCADAS Tac. Agr. 10.4 (where see OgilvieRichmond) in A.D. 84;
MODO thus covers about 20 years (see introduction).
MINIMA NOCTE is again rather strong. Britain was considered to be so far
north that sometimes accounts of the midnight sun were applied to it; in fact the
longest day is about 3 hours longer at the north of Scotland than in Rome, and
the shortest night in the Shetlands is about 5 hours long. See Caesar BG 5.13.24
with T. Rice Holmes (on 4.126) 2256, Tac. Agr. 12.3 with OgilvieRichmond,
Pliny NH 2.1867 (with Beaujeu pp. 2389) and 4.104, Pan. Lat. 6.9.3 (p. 192 Mynors), Hipparchus ap. Strabo 2.75 = fr. 61 Dicks (q.v. 185 sqq.), Thomson (on 12)
147 sqq. |[149]
MINIMA CONTENTOS Because they cannot have any more (cf. 9.9, 13.47).
1623 Very much the spirit in which Tacitus in the Germania (see the editions
of Anderson xv sqq. and Perret 17 sqq.; also Syme1 126, Kroll1 303) contrasts the
barbarian tribes with Roman civilisation; cf. 9.1313.
1637 CUNCTIS EPHEBIS MOLLIOR Cf. 11.66; CUNCTIS means all other
cf. 11.25 (q.v.), 10.13, 8.97, Bell 195, Enk on Prop. 2.1.57. The word ephebus (10.306)
suggests effeminacy (MOLLIOR cf. 47).
OBSES Hostages were often exacted from the frontier peoples of the East; e.g.
the Tigranes who diu obses apud Urbem fuerat (Tac. Ann. 14.26.1, cf. 15.1.2, 2.2.2,
6.32.2 and 43.3). Suet. Cal. 36 mentions the seduction of hostages by Caligula; on
their Romanisation see Tac. ll.cc. and 12.1011, and A. Aymard tudes dHistoire
Ancienne (1967) 458 = JRS 51, 1961, 141. The tribune here was probably Zs guard.
166 .
167 HOMINES men of the world; but not viri (10.304). Note the shift to the

SATIRE two125

plural; see index variation.

URBEM Since this means Rome, it would be better printed with a capital, cf.
3.60 and 7.162.
168 INDULSIT as the text stands is a solecism; it ought to be indulserit. Leo
was probably right to suspect a gap after pueris of the general sense <docti rediere
domique instituunt alios>, since in other lines of emendation the tenses of 16770
cause some harshness (referent Markland and Ruperti). Clausen tries to soften
this by punctuation, as if 170 were the reason for 169; but adeo rather than sic
would be required. Better put a semi-colon after 168 and a full stop after 169, so
that 170 stands on its own as a closing epiphonema (Quintil. 8.5.11). Professor Nisbet suggests induerit, with which cf. Sen. Med. 43 Caucasum mente indue.
NON AMATOR Cf. 9.130.
169 MITTENTUR dimittentur , omittentur Probus; in favour of womens
dress, cf. 83142. The following items are part of the attire of young Armenians.
For BRACAE see DS s.v., RE ; for CULTELLI DS culter 1584 n. 25,
Joseph. AJ 18.45 (CGL 2.562.48 cultellum refers to here). The
Armenians usually fought from horseback (cf. FRENA, FLAGELLUM), for which
purpose this weapon was easier to manage than a sword.
170 PRAETEXTATOS Like those of the young Romans, cf. on 1.78 and the
phrase praetextata verba (Mooney on Suet. Vesp. 22). But we are also meant to
link the word with the change of dress indicated |[150] in 169, as if in Juvenals eyes
the dress of women and of young Romans were now synonymous terms.
REFERUNT ARTAXATA I take Artaxata to be nominative and referunt to
mean bring back, as if the mores were the spoils of war; this carries on the idea
that the Romans, apparently victorious (162), are in fact defeated (159). The meaning might also be that the ephebi bring back these morals to Artaxata, or that A.
recalls (1.66) Roman morals. Pliny Ep. 4.22.7 also speaks of the deleterious effect
of a Roman habit on provincials; of course moralists, and particularly Juvenal,
usually speak of foreigners corrupting Rome (cf. p. 19), so what we have here is
something of a paradox.

[151]

Satire Three

This poem is unusual in form in that, like Hor. Serm. 2.3, it consists mainly of a
long monologue addressed to the poet with an introduction and conclusion to establish a dramatic setting. As if aroused by the denunciation of Romes corruption
at the end of the preceding poem, Juvenals friend Umbricius is leaving Rome in
disgust and retiring to Cumae. It is impossible to say, and not important to know,
whether this is historically true or Juvenal has invented Umbricius; one might
argue that Juvenal would have made an invented figure retire to one of the towns
of 191 sqq. or 2234 rather than the Greek Cumae. If however he is an invented
figure we can see why he should have been invented; Juvenal had expressed an
urge to leave Rome (2.12), but his love-hatred relationship with the metropolis
keeps him there, and it is much more forceful to put the denunciation of Rome in
the mouth of one who finds the city so intolerable that he is shaking its dust from
his feet and going into exile (29) than it would have been for Juvenal himself, who
only occasionally goes off to Aquinum (318), to denounce Rome while continuing to live in it. Cairns (see introduction to Twelve) 478 classifies the poem in
terms of rhetoric as a (Menander rhetor in L. Spengel Rhetores Graeci 3.4304; Cairns 3840), the farewell of a departing traveller (in this case the type
in which he leaves home for another city), but a reversal of the usual pattern in
that here the traveller attacks the home which he is leaving instead of expressing
regret. One can fit some details into this classification (e.g. the comparison with
other places in 170231, in this case unfavourable to Umbricius patria), but it
hardly seems to have been prominent in Juvenals mind.
The structure is simple and symmetrical.
I. 120 Introduction.
II. The difficulty of making a living; foreshadowed by Umbricius 214.
(a) Honesty does not produce a living (212) 2157. |[152]
(b) Foreigners oust Romans (22 nulla emolumenta laborum) 58125.
(c) Poverty is despised and helpless (234; res 23, 155, 165) 12689.
126

SATIRE three127

III. The discomforts and dangers of the city; foreshadowed by Juvenal 79 (so
there is a chiastic pattern; III foreshadowed, II foreshadowed, II, III). The
junction of II and III is bound together by the theme of the little country
towns 16892.
(a) 190231 Falling buildings and fire.
(b) 23267 Crowds and traffic.
(c) 268314 Perils of the night, accidents and assaults. (b) and (c) (mille peri
cula saevae urbis 89) are arranged to show the events of a whole day; night
2328, morning 23948, main part of the day 24961, late afternoon 2617,
evening 268301, night 302 sqq.
IV. Conclusion, which recalls the introduction (the removal wagon 10 and 317;
Umbricius secessus at Cumae with its Sibyl and Juvenals refectio at Aquinum with its Ceres and Diana; the terror inspired by the reciting poets of
Rome (9) contrasted with Umbricius willingness to be an auditor (322; cf.
1.1) of Juvenal at Aquinum, whence we infer that Juvenals satires are a cut
above the ordinary).
Juvenal makes it plain in 58 that he fully shares the feelings of Umbricius
as far as concerns III (and it seems to be merely a structural device that Umbricius foreshadows II and Juvenal III), and 606, 11418 look more like words of
the declaiming satirist than of Umbricius. The two seem to be of much the same
social position, and the nature of their complaints in II is revealing. If a man of
comparable position today were faced with the problem of making a living in a
large city, his answer in most cases would be to look for work; but this notion
never occurs to Umbricius, who on the contrary despises those who do this (31,
76, even though some of the associated occupations were not considered artes
honestae 21). His only idea is to hang on to the coat-tails of some wealthy man
(compare how Tacitus Hist. 1.4.3 contrasts pars populi integra et magnis domibus
adnexa, clientes libertique with the plebs sordida et circo ac theatris sueta, or Martial 10.10.11 complains quid faciet pauper cui non licet esse clienti?); those who do
get on are upstarts (3840) and their |[153] kind of prosperity is to him sour grapes
(547); he is afraid of being ousted from traditional privileges by immigrants (I
cannot accept Finleys remark, 60 It is decisive to note that in the familiar denunciation of freedmen and metics, from Plato to Juvenal, the invariable theme
is moral, not economic. They are condemned for their vices and their evil ways,
never as competitors who were depriving honest men of a livelihood), and feels
that, irrespective of his merits, his nationality should secure him favour (cf. Mart.
10.76, but note that, unlike Juvenal, Martial shows little racial prejudice); he selfrighteously complains that the competition is unfair (11925); he implies that it is
his ineffectiveness and not his principles that keeps him from captatio (127, 161; cf.
92); he attaches great importance to status and maintaining appearances (14789;
note that a man like him may expect (167) to have slaves, though he himself (286)

128A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

does not seem to have any).

The fact that Juvenal must be assumed to be entirely in sympathy with Umbricius, who to us does not seem to be a wholly faultless character, shows that he did
not possess the intellect to diagnose the problem presented by urban society in his
day, which for one class at least sprang from two sources. First, the institution of
slavery produced in Rome, as in another very different culture, the poor white
mentality with a hierarchy of occupations, some of which are sordidae, not liberales. Negotiator itself is a term of reproach in Mart. 11.66, whereas to the freedman at Petron. 38.14 undertaking (cf. Juv. 32) is honesta (cf. Juv. 21) negotiatio;
cf. Quintil. quoted on 1559. To Cicero De Off. 1.150 portitores (cf. Juv. 31) are a
disreputable profession. This passage of Cicero is generally illuminating and has
been much discussed; see de Robertis 52, RE Industrie 1510, Brunt PCPS2 19, 1973,
26; on the Greek background Nrr; ZRG 82, 1965, 79 n. 53 reviewing de Robertis
(Cicero may here mirror Panaetius, as Seneca Ep. 88.213 Posidonius, but neither
is false to Roman views); on the whole topic Crook1 193 sqq., Finley 736 and generally chs. 23, pointing out that hired labour working for wages is what Cicero
finds particularly degrading, Blmner1 599600. Umbricius feels indignation that
the law of Rome ignores these social distinctions (155).
Secondly, another fundamental institution of Roman society, the clientela,
turned into an instrument of pauperisation when |[154] possession of slaves became wide-spread. Juvenal often criticises the degeneration of personal relationships between patron and client into those of commerce (see p. 21).
A writer who for once shows himself more perceptive, Dio Chrysostom, analyses this problem in his seventh speech (on which see Brunt l.c. 9 sqq.), 104 sqq.,
in which he poses the problem what are to do in the city, and
realises that the answer lies in (125; though not any kind
of work is acceptable (106), e.g. one should not sink to being a praeco, cf. Juv. 157).
[Addendum, originally on p. 194: On the Euboean speech see also C. P. Jones, The
Roman World of Dio Chrys. (1978) 5960, 12930.] This speech lays much emphasis on the antithesis between rustic virtue and urban corruption, which was deeply
rooted in ancient thought, and Umbricius too, though he does not actually set up
a rural ideal, frames an antithesis between Rome and little country towns, Cumae
and others (169 sqq., 1902, 2234; yet in 34 municipalis is a sneer (cf. on 8.238)
and reveals in his hatred for Rome something of the love-hatred which we have
remarked in Juvenal). It is consistent with this that we catch hints of an anti-urban
genre of literature, the pastoral; in particular the tranquillity of the concluding
departure at sunset (316) reminds us of the end of several Vergilian Bucolics (1.83,
2.667, 6.856, 10.757; cf. Calp. Sic. 5.11921), and Umbricius has something of
Meliboeus about him (29 cedamus patria; Verg. 1.34 nos patriae fines et dulcia
linquimus arva, nos patriam fugimus).
Apart from scattered parallels in Martial, some epigrams show a closer resem-

SATIRE three129

blance; 3.38 (13 quid faciam? certum est vivere Romae cf. Juv. 41) and 4.5 on the
difficulty of making a living at Rome, 12.18 addressed to Juvenal on the contrast
between his life at Rome and the peace of Martials retirement in Spain. One wonders if Juvenal accompanied his friend to the gates of Rome when he retired to
Spain about A.D. 98.
M. Hodgart Satire (1969) 129 makes some remarks on the wider significance of
this poem which deserve quotation. The device of the crowded canvas is found
almost everywhere from Juvenals Rome through Popes Dunciad to the horrible
collective canteens of 1984. The reasons for its prevalence are that satire is an urban art, and that city crowds, mindless and faceless, are unpleasant to most people. But there is a deeper reason for the effectiveness of this device. The opposite of
the satirists butt is the heroic individual who in tragedy or epic is pictured as |[155]
standing alone in his moment of triumph or defeat. The tragic hero loses in his
conflict with society, but is allowed to die in glorious isolation. And so the great
leader is depicted in painting or sculpture. When grotesque or comic realist art
shows a seething mass, whether of devils in Hell or of Flemish peasants, dignity
is impossible. Ibid. 135 This is the first great urban poem, the first to do justice to
the complexities of city life, and that has been its fascination for writers ever since.
Most writers, after all, have lived in cities for part of their lives; even if they prefer
to live in the country, their patrons and public are in the capital cities, which are
the centres of political and cultural life, and where most interesting events take
place. At the same time cities are always unpleasant places to live in; if the plague
gets better, the traffic gets worse. Thus writers are bound to their cities in a powerful love-hate relationship. And 137 The moral centre of Juvenals satire really
lies not in the preference of the country over the town; Johnson, who believed
that the man who is tired of London is tired of life, was patently insincere in saying
that he wished to escape, and we may assume that Juvenal was too; he would have
found the country even less tolerable than Rome Johnson concentrates with
weighty sincerity on one of Juvenals main points: that there is one law for the rich
and another for the poor, who must bear oppressions wrong: Slow rises worth
by poverty depressed. Juvenal has succeeded in making a powerful protest
against social injustice He identifies himself with the poor freemen of Rome.
Uprooted and powerless, Juvenal writes with true desperationbut with a gaiety
born of desperation Juvenal is a great comic writer; he cannot help making the
miseries of life more absurdly unfair than they really are, and thus he reminds that
satire must entertain as well as denounce. The caveat must be entered that this
rather exaggerates the uprightness of Umbricius.
1 DIGRESSU CONFUSUS (upset) Pliny Pan. 86.3 quam ego audio confusionem tuam fuisse cum digredientem prosequereris!
VETERIS Cf. 1.132.

130A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

2 VACUIS (cf. 10.102; whereas Rome is over-full, 232 sqq.) CUMIS quieta
Cyme Stat. Silv. 4.3.65; it was overshadowed by the foundation of Puteoli in 194
B.C. Cf. Sirago 15. |[156]
3 CIVEM DONARE Cf. 14.70.
UNUM Even if she has no more, as if Cumae were literally vacuae, a ghosttown; cf. solum 6. He indicates Umbricius independence.
SIBYLLAE A testa which is municeps of the Sibyl, Mart. 14.114. The association
of the Sibyl and Daedalus (25) shows that Juvenal has in mind Aen. 6 init.
4 Cumae is at the neck of the peninsula on which Baiae stands, and affords easy
access to that pleasant spot with its mild climate and hot sulphur springs (11.49,
SG 1.337 = 1.407); cf. 11.124 porta, Sen. Ep. 55.7. Travellers to Baiae would pass
through the Arco Felice at Cumae.
GRATUM LITUS AMOENI SECESSUS It is rare to find adjective and genitive
of quality not coupled by et, but cf. 5.467, 9.289, 10.125, perhaps 15.76, Sen Dial.
12.5.5 (not however 48 below), etc.
AMOENI SECESSUS Tac. Ann. 14.62.3, Suet. Cal. 45.3; amoenus is the recurrent epithet of this area (DArms 132). Wealthy Romans liked to retire to sea-side
or country for relaxation and refreshment (cf. 319, SG 1.329 = 1.398); the Bay of
Naples was fringed with villas.
PROCHYTA Then a desolate island (aspera Stat. Silv. 2.2.76).
SUBURA A bustling street (11.51 and 141) with which Mart. 12.18 links Juvenal
himself (cf. p. 2).
7 CREDAS See on 310.
INCENDIA, LAPSUS TECTORUM The two are often coupled (Adamietz 27).
The insulae of Rome were jerry-built (Pliny NH 36.176) of largely inflammable
materials, with few open spaces to prevent the spread of fire; building regulations
such as those of Nero after the great fire of A.D. 64 had no lasting effect (Tac. Ann.
15.43; cf. on 199). See SG 1.21 = 1.23, P. Werner De Incendiis Urbis Romae (1906) 47,
Carcopino 39, Brunt2 846, Packer JRS 57, 1967, 812, Yavetz Latomus 17, 1958, 507,
A. G. McKay Houses Villas and Palaces (1975) 859 and on fires van Ooteghem
tudes Class. 28, 1960, 305.
8 AC MILLE PERICULA Of course the incendia and lapsus are also pericula,
so that English idiom might insert other and German say und berhaupt; but in
such concluding phrases Latin often uses et or ac on its own, cf. 10.174 (q.v.), KS
2.25, B. Axelson Senecastudien (1933) 58. Note Florus 2.21.7 Arabum et Sabaeorum
et mille aliarum (this word absent from the best ms.) Asiae gentium.
9 A comic (anti-)climax; they recite (on 1.3) even in the hot and unhealthy
weather (on 4.56), when everyone who could would have left Rome (Hor. Epist.
1.7 init.). Pliny Ep. 8.21.2 mentions recitations in July when the courts were closed.
The dog-days in the |[157] city become an important theme of later satirists (A.
Kernan The Plot of Satire (1965) 13n.).

SATIRE three131

10 DOMUS His frivola (198); not his slaves (cf. 261), since he seems to have
none (286). Wagons were not allowed inside the city by day (on 236), so his scant
(TOTA UNA; cf. 234) effects have to be carried to one of the gates and loaded
there (SG 1.280 = 1.332). Cf. Mart. 2.6.16 interiungere ad Camenas (cf. Juv. 16),
meaning to load up; 3.47 Capena grandi porta qua pluit gutta plena Bassus ibat
in raeda tuta faeno cursor ova portabat (see on 14). urbem petebat Bassus? immo
rus ibat; Galen 11.301 K .
RAEDA See on 236.
11 Through the Porta Capena (see PlatnerAshby s.v.) went out the Appian
Way; over the gate passed an aqueduct, a branch of the Aqua Marcia (Frontin.
19), which dripped (Mart. quoted on 10). Cf. PlatnerAshby arcus stillans; Lugli
1 p. 161, 2 p. 205, 3 pp. 1821; T. Ashby Aqueducts of Ancient Rome (1935) 155; E.
B. van Deman The Building of the Roman Aqueducts (1934) 141 (for the so-called
Nymphaeum of Egeria see N. Neuerburg LArchitettura delle Fontane e dei Ninfei
nell Italia Antica (1965) 161 and pl. 58 (perhaps of Hadrianic date)).
QUE is epexegetic, cf. et 48, KS 2.25, Kroll1 261, index conjunctions.
1216 would be best punctuated thus: amicae, nunc supellex (omnis
Camenis), in , so that 12 and 1314 can be in adversative asyndeton. HIC UBI
is a common combination in the first foot (examples in Friedlaender and Thes.
hic 2762.37; add Prop. 3.18.5, Mart. 4.25.6). It is rather informal style to say Here,
where Numa met Egeria, we went down into Egerias valley, but it is excused by
the parenthesis; one should not make VALLEM the antecedent of UBI.
NOCTURNAE AMICAE Not a flattering description of a demigoddess (con
iunx Livy 1.21.3; Mart. 10.35.13, who speaks of her ioci, is less disrespectful). The
basic sense of NOCTURNAE could be expressed by noctu (cf. 4.108 and on 1.27;
Livy 1.19.5 congressus nocturnos), but Juvenals expression emphasises the furtiveness of the goddess, cf. 8.114.
CONSTITUEBAT Cf. 6.487; this also suggests furtive assignations. The use
with a dative in this sense developed from an ellipse; it can be seen developing in
Ter. Haut. 726, Cic. De Or. 1.265.
13 For the grove cf. Livy l.c., Plut. Numa 13.2; Sulpicia 678 (spoken by a Muse)
nam laureta Numae fontesque habitamus eosdem / et comite Egeria ridemus inania
coepta; Symmachus Ep. 1.20.1 Camenarum religio sacro fontis advertitur; Colini
(on 10.17) 13. Egeria was associated with the Camenae, Ovid Fasti 3.275; in fact
Dion. Hal. AR 2.60 calls |[158] her one of them. She and the Camenae are represented as jointly advising Numa (Ovid Met. 15.482, Plut. Numa 8.6 and 13.1). Plut.
De Fort. Rom. 9.321b makes her a dryad.
DELUBRA Poetic plural; the temple of the Camenae, of which the exact nature
is uncertain (Cancik Rm. Mitteil. 76, 1969, 3235). What Juvenal says is not to be
taken literally; the actual temple could not be hired out. Apart from this the passage is usually understood literally to mean that the grove has been let out for rent

132A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

(merces; cf. Mommsen1 2.601) to a group of Jews, perhaps to build a synagogue

(296) in it, cf. SG 3.178 = 3.210 (there are Jewish cemeteries farther out on the
Appian Way, Smallwood 521); but this fails to account for the emphatic OMNIS.
More probably the meaning is that the Jews, who had to pay a special tax (the
fiscus Iudaicus; Smallwood 515; Bruce Palestine Exploration Quarterly 96, 1964,
34, who however thinks that Nerva exempted Jews resident in Italy), had been
allowed to settle there (Mommsen Ges. Schr. 3.419 n. 3); the description of this tax
as rent is satirical, not literal, intended to suggest omnia Romae cum pretio (183).
Since the Porta Capena was a loading-point, it will have been rather like a modern
railway-station (Sturtevant AJP 32, 1911, 322), with a general market where Jews
could peddle their wares; it seems to be called Idymaea porta 8.160. The Jewish
sacerdos arboris 6.5445 will have no connection with this passage. For the COPHINUS FENUMQUE cf. on 6.5425; Sidon. Epist. 7.6.3 (incedat) Israelita cum
cophino, which however may well refer to Psalm 81.6 = 80.7. This is perhaps the
basket used for the feast of first fruits (Schrer 1.446 n. 23; Goodenough 5.84), but
it is more probable that food was warmed (cf. 11.70) on the sabbath in a basket of
hay, since cooking would not then be allowed (Exodus 35.3 and Mishnah 12 (The
Sabbath) 4.1, p. 103 ed. H. Danby (1933); cf. H. Rnsch Collectanea Philologa (1891)
249 = Neue Jahrb. 123, 1881, 692 and 131, 1885, 552; Cameron CR1 40, 1926, 62). Valla
notes qualos dicit, ubi sabbato calida asservant, and on 6.542 his pulmentaria sua
et calidam aquam die sabbati servare consuerunt. In that case Martials reference
to eggs carried in straw at the Porta Capena (see on 10) is mere coincidence, and
we are not to think of Jews peddling eggs.
MENDICAT SILVA The primary meaning of this is doubtless that the Jews
who live in the grove (cf. cena 2.120 and on 1.116) beg for their living (cf. 6.543,
Mart. 12.57.13 and on 296); but in this context it is probably also hinted that the
trees, pauperised like the poor Romans such as Umbricius, have to beg from the
Jews the merces which they are required to pay to the treasury.
Whatever the historical interpretation of the passage, its literary |[159] point is
clear. Juvenal and Umbricius look for a non-urban setting for the denunciation of
Rome, but the one they find is spoiled by foreigners (like the Graeculi soon to be
denounced) whose cult has evicted the native Roman goddesses, by greed which
profiteers from the sacred, by luxuria which despises simple Roman stone, and in
short by lack of respect for Roman tradition (note the emphatic contrast between
nunc and Numa, with whom cf. Quirinus 67; it will be noted that the satirist cannot refrain from joking at Numa, his symbol of what is to be respected, cf. p. 24).
This porta is quite the opposite of the ianua of 45; Egerias grove is crowded with
the wrong people, whereas the Sibyl lives in a solitary place.
1720 Juvenal has in mind Ovids description of a grove at Met. 3.157 sqq.
SPELUNCAS antro Mart. 10.35.14 (cf. on 12).
VERIS natural cf. Sen. Contr. 2.9.13, Manil. 5.261, Sen. Tro. 168.

SATIRE three133

PRAESENTIUS Cf. 11.111 and the context (116 violatus, cf. 3.20), Ovid Am. 3.1.1
2, Pliny Ep. 8.8.5; on the Roman feeling for the numinous in nature see SG 1.3801
= 1.461 and particularly Ovid Fasti 3.296, Amores 3.13.78, Mela 1.75. Egeria would
be praesens in the stream; she was changed into a fons (Ovid Met. 15.547 sqq.).
INGENUUM Native; tufa is a soft (Pliny NH 36.1667) volcanic stone, used by
the earliest Italian builders (Blake 23), whereas the marble is probably imported
(14.89). The fount was presumably adorned because water for the cult of Vesta was
taken from it (Wissowa 219, Latte 77).
The lines certainly show a feeling for nature (cf. SG 1.3846 = 1.4679), but
from what has been said it will be apparent that this is not their essential point;
contrast Sen. Ep. 90.43 rivi non opere nec fistula nec ullo coacto itinere obsolefacti
sed sponte currentes.
212 Cf. 119 and Pliny Ep. 2.20.12 in ea civitate in qua iam pridem non minora
praemia, immo maiora, nequitia et improbitas quam pudor et virtus habent.
23 And again tomorrow it (the res) will rub away (i.e. lose) something from the
little left. Cf. 16.50 res atteritur; here however the res is surprisingly the subject;
not the object, and since res and exiguis are almost the same thing (11.130, res exiguas), the expression is virtually equivalent to res sibi deteret, the idiom discussed
on 15.1920. Cases like 8.247 and 10.195, where a passive creature is spoken of as an
active agent, should not be compared; nor should eadem be taken to mean urbs.
Emendations which make cras a noun fail because when this word is a noun it
must have an adjective with it (Pers. 5.68, Mart. 5.58); Herwerden altered eadem to
fames, but this is too blunt. |[160]
245 The favourite technique of periphrasis here makes the point that Umbricius too will come to rest there; cf. 7980 (q.v.), 1.55, Verg. Aen. 6.14 sqq., Sil. It.
12.103. Daedalus is a representative of escape, and fatigatas (cf. Ovid Met. 8.260)
arouses sympathy for him.
PROPONIMUS This is his propositum (5.1, 9.21, 10.325).
268 Cf. Calp. Sic. 5.13 baculum premat inclinata senectus; usually senectus is
curva (Thes. s.v. 1549.84). Prima senectus is the period between the ages of 46 and
60, while one is senior without being senex (Gell. 10.28, Censorin. 14.2).
NOVA CANITIES Apul. Met. 5.15 interspersus rara canitie.
27 QUOD i.e. stamen (10.252, 12.65, 14.249); cf. Hor. Odes 2.3.15 dum res et aetas
et sororum / fila trium patiuntur atra.
29 CEDERE PATRIA is to go into exile (Tac. Ann. 13.47.3).
ISTIC might mean simply here (on 4.67), but more probably Umbricius
chooses a pronoun which suggests his divorce from Rome. LaFleur Riv. Stud.
Class. 22, 1974, 3 implausibly tries to identify Artorius and Catulus.
30 Cf. Ovid. Met. 11.313; it is hard to see why Juvenal did not write nigra, as
Ovid did.
31 CONDUCERE To undertake a contract, cf. 38, 7.4, Hor. Epist. 1.1.77 publica

134A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

conducere, Sen. Ep. 101.4 ille qui ad publica quoque nullum relinquens inexpertum
genus quaestus accesserat.
AEDEM sc. reficiendam vel aedificandam; the counterpart is aedem locare
(Thes. aedes 914.72, DE aedes 168).
FLUMINA may refer either to keeping rivers free from obstruction (Gell. 11.17)
or the collection of tolls. Likewise PORTUS may mean dredging etc. or the collection of portoria (cf. Cicero quoted in the introduction); for portus in this sense cf.
RE portorium 348.20, S. J. de Laet Portorium (1949) 19 and e.g. Cic. 2 Verr. 2.171,
Ad Att. 5.15.3. For an inscription of a conductor portus Lirensis see de Laet 1301
and RE 353.59 sqq.; for the conductores de Laet 384, RE 385.47, DE conductor 5801,
Blmner1 635 n. 1, de Martino 41 830.
SICCANDAM ELUVIEM takes this to refer to cleaning out the sewers (cf.
Pliny NH 2.197), others with greater probability to clearing up after the frequent
floods of the Tiber (Pliny Ep. 8.17 with the notes of Sherwin-White and Lehmann-Hartleben), which would be almost as unpleasant a job; in the latter case
the curatores riparum et alvei Tiberis et cloacarum urbis would let out the work to
contractors.
PORTANDUM CADAVER For the contempt in which undertakers were
held cf. 8.175, Val. Max. 5.2.10, Blmner1 613, RE libitinarius 114.44. Here too the
counterpart is locare (Hor. Serm. 1.8.9, RE 114.46, Blmner1 489, Marquardt 384).
33 to be sold up beneath the spear of ownership, an ironical |[161]
at the end of a series introduced by quis facile est! The contractors
just mentioned embezzle the money and make a fraudulent bankruptcy (which
they would hold light; 11.50), whereupon their property would be sold sub hasta;
here Juvenal speaks as if the man himself were sold into slavery, cf. Cic. Pro Sest. 57
de hoc est rogatum ut praeconi publico subiceretur, De Domo 52, Suet. Claud. 9.2
venals pendere (have ones goods advertised for sale). A spear was set up at public
auctions, which were originally established to sell spoils of war, as a symbol of
conquest and ownership (Gaius 4.16 fin., RE hasta 25023, Thielmann 38); domina
hasta is the spear which confers dominium, ownership (unfortunately the meaning of Sen. Contr. 2.1 pr. limina sub domino sectore venalia is obscure; see Winterbottoms note). Cf. Sen. Dial. 3.2.1 principum sub civili hasta capita venalia (the
result of ira). This quotation and the phrasing generally are against Trnkles idea
(ZPE 28, 1978, 168) that the reference is to contractors, mancipes, who bid for state
contracts (the bidding being held in the form of an auction; Sen. Dial. 10.12.1 quos
hasta praetoris infami lucro et quandoque suppuraturo exercet) and who are
indifferent to the risk that they may lose their civic status (caput) if they default.
Killeen Mnem.4 12, 1959, 343 thinks the reference to be to provincials who sold
themselves into slavery in order eventually to become freedmen and Roman citizens (Petron. 57); but this does not produce immediate lucre. Others think of
praecones auctioning slaves, but praebere caput could not mean this.

SATIRE three135

345 Gladiators fought to the music of horns (cf. 6.249; RE suppl. 3.781, SG 2.60
= 2.73, Wille 202, DS cornu fig. 1957, S. Aurigemma I Mosaici di Zliten (1926) 152
4, 149, 163), and the horn-players were attached to travelling (cf. 6.82 sqq., Suet.
Vitell. 12; assiforana CIL 2.6278.29) companies of gladiators which went around
the municipia (for the sneer which this implies see the introduction).
QUONDAM becomes virtually an adjective, since Latin has no means of expressing having been; cf. HS 171, KS 1.218, Naegelsbach 75.
BUCCAE Nom. plur.; their swollen cheeks as they blew were a familiar sight
(cf. Plaut. Poen. 1416). 11.34 is somewhat different. Cf. Mart. 3.95.7 notumque per
oppida nomen.
36 For upstarts now rich enough to give gladiatorial shows themselves cf. Mart.
3.16 and 59 (but in Juvenal this happens at Rome itself), Tac. Ann. 4.62 and 15.34,
(Suet. Claud. 28), Pliny NH 35.32, ILS 5186, SG 2.825 = 2.1026.
VERSO POLLICE converso Prudent. In Symm. 2.1098. The actual gesture is
hard to establish. Friedlaender adduced the evidence of a relief (SG 2.601; not in
ed. 10), but was refuted by Post AJP 13, |[162] 1892, 213. At Apul. Met. 2.21 the infestus pollex is apparently upturned, and premere pollicem, which would naturally
mean turn down the thumb or cover it beneath the fingers, is a sign of favor (Pliny
NH 28.25); cf. Onians 139 n. 4. Normally the editor would follow the wishes of the
audience in deciding whether to spare or slay a defeated gladiator (RE suppl. 3.782,
SG 2.60 = 2.74, RSV 3.564 n. 7), but Julius Caesar (Suet. 26.3) was known to disregard them. With POPULARITER cf. [Quintil.] Decl. 9.6 sedebat sanguine nostro
(sc. gladiatorum) favorabilis (winning favour) dominus.
OCCIDUNT Not personally; cf. 116, 186, 4.110, 6.481 and on 16.13 (Mart. 3.99.4
iugulare).
INDE REVERSI Even in their elevation they still engage in filthy trades.
FORICAS They are foricarii (Paulus Dig. 22.1.17.5; this passage does not seem
to refer to the vectigal of that name on wine), like the man who gave his name to
the sellae Paterclianae (Mart. 12.77.9); they would charge an entrance-fee, cf. SG
4.284 = 4.310 and the tax of Vespasian mentioned on 14.204. For CONDUCUNT
cf. on 1.108.
CUR NON OMNIA sc. faciant; anything cf. on 8.209.
39 EX HUMILI Cf. Thes. humilis 3106.77, 3108.20.
MAGNA RERUM A humorous exaggeration.
40 Cf. 6.608, 7.197, Livy 30.30.5, Lucian Nigrin. 20 etc.
FORTUNA For the word-order cf. on 93.
41 One might expect Umbricius to contrast himself with the persons of 29 sqq.
by means of an ego; for its absence cf. Housman CQ1 8, 1914, 155 = Coll. Papers 884,
Mller and Sjgren on Cic. Ad Att. 5.9.1. Other instances are 14.223, Plaut. Truc.
755, Cic. Phil. 2.89 mansi, Mart. 1.5.1, 1.13.34, Ovid Met. 13.21011. For verbal parallels to this line in Martial see the introduction and on 136.

136A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

MENTIRI NESCIO Cf. Mart. 12.40.1 (toadying), Petron. 116 (captatio).

LIBRUM POSCERE Hor. Serm. 2.5.745 (captatio), Petron. 10, Mart. 2.27 (a
laudicenus), Pliny Ep. 9.25.1, Plut. 6.531c.
LAUDARE Cf. 86.
424 Cf. 14.248 sqq. and on the popularity of astrologers 6.553 sqq. (esp. 565,
q.v.).
PROMITTERE Cf. spondet 6.548.
RANARUM INSPEXI Presumably not for the purpose of poisoning (on
1.70), which inspicere would hardly suit, but of divination (6.549551 shows the
popularity of such diviners) of an Oriental type. Cf. Thes. inspicio 1953.59; Prop.
3.6.27 mentions ranae portenta rubetae in magic. |[163]
456 QUAE MITTIT QUAE MANDAT His gifts (4.20, 5.32 and 108, 7.74,
9.50 etc.) and messages; cf. 14.30.
47 FUR Like Verres (53), cf. 2.26.
ATQUE IDEO NULLI This takes it for granted that all governors are thieves.
COMES EXEO As a member of a provincial governors cohors; cf. on 8.127 and
Thes. exeo 135648.
TAMQUAM on the grounds that I am cf. 222, 9.97, 14.11112 and often in e.g.
Tacitus; see HS 597, KS 2.456.
48 CORPUS NON UTILE should be placed between commas (so Weidner and
Bcheler) as an apposition (for the artificial word-order see Kroll1 262, Sen. Ag.
348 ades, o magni, soror et coniunx, consors sceptri, regia Iuno); then ET (epexegetic, cf. on 11 and 1.75) couples the adjective with the adjectival genitive of quality,
cf. on 11.96. Otherwise we have a very harsh instance of the feature mentioned on
4. With the punctuation here proposed the genitive of quality does not depend
directly on a noun, a Silver idiom (HS 70; contrast Sil. It. 1.641 fatiferae iuvenem
dextrae).
His right hand being mutilated he will be unable to take bribes.
49 CONSCIUS Cf. 2.5861, 14.28, Tac. Ann. 6.4.2 noxae conscientiam pro
foedere haberi. Mart. 6.50 is close to this whole passage.
CUI Since Juvenal frames the ends of his spondaic lines with great regularity
(with the exception of 273; cf. p. 38), this word is probably dissyllabic here and
at 7.211; this scansion is established in Senecas iambics (Ag. 146) and Sapphics
(Tro. 852), and four times in Martials hendecasyllabics. Huic too is sometimes
dissyllabic. See F. Sommer Handbuch der Lat. Laut- und Formenlehre3 (1913) 446,
Sturtevant TAPA 43, 1912, 58.
50 Cf. 1.166; Cic. De Leg. 2.43 ardere conscientia; Plut. De Rat. Audiendi 16.46d
.
TACENDIS 4.105.
52 should end with a colon, as 53 is in adversative asyndeton. SECRETI is a
noun, cf. Tac. Ann. 1.6.3 particeps secretorum, 15.50.2.

SATIRE three137

547 TANTI UT Cf. 6.178, 10.978. The ut-clause carries within itself the
ellipse of being willing or the like; cf. on 8.196.
NON If this sentence is a prohibition, I do not know why Juvenal did not write
ne. Non at 6.448 is excused by metrical convenience, and at 6.451, 11.185, 16.28 it
goes closely with one word. So here SIT is probably potential, not jussive.
OPACI sc. arboribus (Mart. 1.49.1516), with a visual contrast between green
leaves and golden sand; opimi Bcheler Rh. Mus. 29, 1874, 637 = Kl. Schr. 2.79,
which seems more pointed. |[164]
HARENA AURUMQUE Golden (literally so) sand, by epexegesis; cf. 14.299.
SOMNO CAREAS 13.217, Phaedr. 4.21 (20).10.
PONENDA PRAEMIA Rewards thrust on you which you will presently have
to abandon (because you will be assassinated); cf. on 14.268. Other interpretations
ignore the obvious relationship between this and SUMAS (Sen. Ep. 90.30 ponenda
non sumeret).
TRISTIS Through anxiety and conscience, cf. 9.967.
MAGNO AMICO i.e. patrono; cf. on 1.33.
589 GENS Cf. 86; ACCEPTISSIMA takes up diligitur 49, carus 53; FUGIAM
cf. 81.
PROPERABO FATERI Stat. Theb. 2.342.
601 QUIRITES The formal name of the Romans is used pointedly (cf. Quirinus 67) in contrast with GRAECAM.
GRAECAM URBEM As a matter of modern convention one should print Urbem (cf. 7.162). Umbricius would not mind a Graeca urbs (Puteoli and Naples
are such, Petron. 81 and Tac. Ann. 15.33.2), since he is retiring to Cumae; what he
dislikes is a paradoxical Greek Rome.
QUAMVIS In Ciceronian Latin this corrective use belongs only to quamquam,
cf. KS 2.444.
QUOTA PORTIO Cf. 13.157; FAECIS cf. Lucan 7.405 Romam mundi faece
repletam.
ACHAEI Greece proper was now the province of Achaea, but since Alexander
the Great the whole of the Near East is in some sense Greek. Cf. pp. 212 and
Pliny Ep. 8.24.2 Achaiam, illam veram et meram Graeciam, Cic. Pro Flacco 61. The
reading Achaeae is due to attraction.
62 For the foreign communities at Rome cf. Athen. 1.20bc. The Orontes is the
river of Antioch; cf. Prop. 2.23.21 et quas Euphrates (cf. 1.104) et quas mihi misit
Orontes / me iuverint, and the Syrophoenician at 8.159. Moore CW 69, 1976, 376
thinks that Juvenal alludes to the ability of the Orontes to float over other bodies of water (Pliny NH 2.224), which seems far-fetched; more probably Juvenal is
putting in a more pictorial form the metaphor often conveyed by fluo (6.295) and
its compounds, conluvies etc. The Greeks are the (Callim. Hymn 2.108)
carried along by the river.

138A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

635 LINGUAM ; for use of Greek at Rome cf. 6.185 sqq.

CHORDAS OBLIQUAS refers to various Oriental types of harp, sambucae,
psalteria, trigona, spadices (cf. Tillyard JHS 27, 1907, 162; Duchesne-Guillemin Revue dAssyriologie 34, 1937, 29; Herbig Ath. Mitt. 54, 1929, 164; SG 2.345 = 2.171.).
For such names in uncomplimentary contexts cf. Livy 39.6.7, Quintil. 1.10.31, Sci
pio ap. Macrob. Sat. 3.14.7 (= ORF p. 133); tibicinas sambucas in a Phoenician |[165]
cargo Plaut. Stich. 3801, cf. Marquardt 151. In the Greek lyre the strings were
vertical.
GENTILIA Belonging to this gens (58), national; not belonging to the gentes
i.e. foreign to Rome, barbara (66), a sense not natural in this context and not attested so early (though the noun gentes is; Lfstedt 2.464).
TYMPANA Used especially in the cult of Cybele 6.515, 8.176.
AD CIRCUM A favourite haunt; Herter 85 n. 277, SG 2.20 = 23.
IUSSAS (sc. a lenonibus) PROSTARE PUELLAS For Oriental whores at Rome
cf. Herter 71; dancing girls are always associated with immorality (cf. 6.320,
Blmner1 368, Wille 313, Baudot 68).
66 might suitably go in parenthesis; ITE sc. ad circum.
PICTA MITRA Ovid Met. 14.654; sc. acu. Sen. Herc. Fur. 471 mitra
barbara; [Vergils] Syrian Copa wears one (cf. CR2 22, 1972, 174), and in comedy
the has one which is (Pollux 4.154). It suggests the foreign whore
(Herter 93 n. 444, Brandenburg 59 nn. 278).
67 RUSTICUS Cf. 2.74 (with illud like ILLE here) and 127; 11.78 sqq., 14.179
sqq.; there are overtones of absence of cultus, to which rusticitas is regularly opposed by Ovid (cf. AA 3.1278 and Higham CR1 46, 1934, 114), but Juvenal reverses
Ovids approval of the former and disapproval of the latter.
TUUS QUIRINE indicates degeneracy, cf. on 2.1268 and 133; 8.259. In what
follows the Greek words current are ridiculed (this follows from linguam 63) and
contrasted with the Roman Quirinus.
TRECHEDIPNA Apparently a kind of shoe (so in the Notae Tironianae, 99
(4.1.161).42, where it is slightly corrupt; cf. Heraeus ALL 12, 1902, 55),
or . The word is not so used in Greek, where in the masculine it means
a parasite who rushes to dinner. Perhaps it was a type of shoe worn by parasites
in comic productions. Juvenal refers to the replacement of calcei by sandals for
dinner (Blmner1 397).
CEROMATICO Smudged with ceroma (see on 6.246 and Reinmuth l.c. 1934),
an athletic term. The Romans despised the Greek palaestra and all its works, cf. 115,
Sen. Dial. 10.12.2; RE (2061) and Kl. Pauly (8901) Gymnastik, Harris 52 sqq., Carcopino 256, Marquardt 117 and 122, Blmner1 329, N. Petrochilos Roman Attitudes
to the Greeks (1974) 177, Wardman 36, E. Mhl Gymnastik und Athletik (1974) 23
and 40, Koestermann on Tac. Ann. 14.20.4, SG 2.122 = 2.152 (for Domitians Capitoline games see ibid. 1201 = 1501 and for Roman athletes 1245 = 155, Mhl 34).

SATIRE three139

Prizes.
COLLO Aristoph. Knights 490 . |[166]
69 ALTA , , the traditional epic epithet of cities; but what a letdown from epic glory is this!
AMYDON is in Macedonia, Andros and Samos are islands of the Aegean,
Tralles and Alabanda are in Caria; so Greece is represented by two mainland
towns, two islands, and two towns on the Asiatic coast.
HIC HIC HIC ILLE HIC For this series cf. 10.227, Thes. hic 2736.20
sqq., MeaderWlfflin ALL 12, 1902, 245. The epic hiatus in 70 contributes to the
same effect as alta in 69.
71 ESQUILIAS A grand area 5.78, 11.51.
DICTUM COLLEM i.e. Vmnlem (cf. Ovid Fasti 2.511 collis quoque dictus
ab illo est, i.e. a Quirino), the periphrasis here contrasting a Latin name with the
Greek ones of 70; for the etymology cf. Festus 376, Varro LL 5.51, Pliny NH 16.37.
This too was a grand area, Jordan 1.3.377, S. B. Platner Topography and Monuments of Ancient Rome2 (1911) 5034. In these districts they will attach themselves
to patrons.
VISCERA The heart and soul. Cf. Curtius 6.9.19; viscera rerum Lucan 7.579.
DOMUUM DOMINI A common figura etymologica, cf. Thes. dominus
1912.49 sqq., 1916.5 sqq., Petron. 76.1, Catull. 61.31 and 68.68 (according to the
mss., which are correct).
DOMINI They will prosper and end up owning the magnae domus themselves.
738 A series of breathless asyndeta.
INGENIUM VELOX Ovid Met. 8.254, Quintil. 6.4.8, cf. Mart. 6.28.7; AUDACIA PERDITA cf. on 5.129.
734 The Greeks were regularly reproached with volubility, e.g. Pliny Ep. 5.20.4
(with torrens); promptae gens linguae of the Syracusans, Sil. It. 14.31. For the metaphor of torrentior cf. 10.9, 119, 128; Quintil. 3.8.60, 10.7.23, 1.2.10.61; Gudeman on
Tac. Dial. 24.1.
ISAEO i.e. Isaei sermone, a comparatio compendiaria. Isaeus was an Assyrian
(Philostr. Vit. Soph. 1.20.1; Suidas 3.281.31; cf. Juv. 62) rhetorician who made a
great impact when he arrived at Rome towards the end of the first century (Pliny
Ep. 2.3, who mentions his copia and ubertas). On him see further Oliver Hesperia
suppl. 8, 1949, 24951.
EDE Cf. 296.
QUID For the neuter cf. Heinsius and Burman on Ovid Her. 12.31.
ILLUM Any Greek; SECUM in himself. For the following Figaro-like list cf.
SHA 18.27.57, Athen. 4.184c, Plut. Aemil. Paul. 6.7; Hippias was famous for his
versatility (Cic. De Or. 3.127, Apul. Flor. 9 and Plato passim). For the nominatives
in enumeration see HS 278. |[167]

140A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

GEOMETRES Juvenal does not employ synizesis, and most cases of this licence in Latin fall into fixed categories into which this could not be fitted. So we
must assume gemetres (twice established in the hendecasyllables of Sidonius), in
spite of ; Juvenal was probably misled by false analogy with compounds
like The-dorus. At Rome this word often suggests a practical surveyor rather than
an abstract theoretical mathematician (Colum. 5.1.4 etc.), though geometry was
part of Roman education (Marrou 378, Bonner 778, Blmner1 328; Cic. De Or.
1.187, Petron. 58, Quintil. 12.11.20; the proficiency of Pompeys wife Cornelia is emphasised by Plut. Pomp. 55.2, Zonaras 10.9). Cf. Clarke 49 The Romans learned
it (i.e. mathematical science) so far as we can tell from Greeks and in Greek with
the context.
PICTOR A sordidum studium Val. Max. 8.14.6; Marquardt 607 and 616,
Blmner1 617, SG 2.322 and 327 = 3.105 and 109, Brunt PCPS2 19, 1973 15 n. 1, J.
M. C. Toynbee Latomus 9, 1950, 175 = Some Notes on Artists in the Roman World
(1951) 35.
ALIPTES 6.422; the Greek gymnasia of Rome (68) were staffed by Greek attendants (Pliny Pan. 13.5). He pointedly prefers the Greek name to unctor; cf.
Blmner1 434.
SCHOENOBATES Cf. 14.266 sqq. and RE ; again deliberately using the Greek word (Manetho 4.287) rather than funambulus.
AUGUR Cf. 44, 6.585.
MEDICUS The medical profession was almost entirely staffed by Greeks; Pliny
NH 29.17, Marquardt 772, Blmner1 475, SG 1.167 = 1.190, J. Scarborough Roman
Medicine (1969) 110.
78 GRAECULUS A contemptuous diminutive, 6.186 and often (cf. Petrochilos
(on 68) 48); soon after this it was given to Hadrian as a nickname (SHA 1.1.5, [Aurel. Vict.] Epit. 14.2).
IUSSERIS should be enclosed within commas; it is a jussive perfect subjunctive
acting as the protasis of a paratactic condition, cf. 6.331 and 526, Hor. Serm. 2.7.32,
Petron. 70 volueris (see KS 2.164), and for its position cf. Verg. Aen. 6.31, Stat. Silv.
5.3.68, Sen. Dial. 6.16.1 libeat (wrongly doubted by some editors). Cf. Plaut. Stich.
615 quin si iusseris, eo quoque ibo (sc. in carcerem); miseris (see the apparatus) is
a simplification.
IN CAELUM IBIT He will profess himself ready to perform the impossible
(Anth. Lat. 649.22, Chariton 3.2.5, Otto Nachtrge 143; Amm. Marc. 29.1.11 sidera
quoque, si iussisset, exhiberi posse promittens), as Daedalus did literally; a Greek
once engaged to represent this in a mime to Nero (Suet. 12, Dio Chrys. 21.9), with
fatal results.
79 IN SUMMA to sum up, or in fact, after all (Stevens CR1 63, 1949, 91). It is
difficult to draw semantic distinctions within and |[168] between this, ad summam,
and in summam (see the apparatus). Of the writers of this time Quintilian (like-

SATIRE three141

wise the Decl. Mai.) and the younger Pliny use only in summa; Mart. 12 pr. has
ad summam (which in Juvenal is probably due to s paraphrase ad postremum,
ad ultimum); in summam is transmitted Stat. Silv. 4 pr. fin. (but this is a very
poor textual tradition) and [Quintil.] Decl. 317 p. 247.27 Ritter (this work however
elsewhere uses in summa and ad summam; see Ritters index), and is sometimes a
variant in Pliny, but never with superior authority.
NEQUE See on 8.98.
80 SUMPSIT Juvenal ironically means that he sprouted them, cf. 14.76; this
is the regular sense of this phrase (Heinsius and Burman on Ovid Met. 4.561),
though cf. Ovid Fasti 4.605.
MEDIIS Mart. 12.21.5 in media nata Subura, cf. Verg. Aen. 7.372 and Fordyce
on Catull. 64.149. Daedalus was an Erechtheid (Frazer on Apollod. 3.15.8).
81 CONCHYLIA Cf. 1.27, 8.101.
Romans regularly invited their friends, clearly in order of rank, to be witnesses
to marriage-deeds (10.336) or wills (1.67, 8.142, Pliny Ep. 1.9.2), and this became
quite a social occasion (officium); cf. SG 1.211 = 1.245.
TORO MELIORE For the order of precedence in the traditional triclinium,
which had three lecti with three places on each (cf. 5.17), see Blmner1 387, Marquardt 3038, RE convivium 12056, Swainson JP 6, 1876, 219. In the form which
had now become an accepted alternative, the lunate couch called sigma, the two
ends (cornua) were the places of honour. Seating could cause resentment (Sen.
Dial. 2.10.2, 5.37.4; Plut. Quaest. Symp. 1.2).
83 They come with the groceries from Syria (Pliny NH 13.51, Mart. 13.289 and
7.53.7 etc.), cf. Stat. Silv. 2.1.73, Pers. 6.39; they are their municipes (4.33). The pruna
are damsons, which take their name from Damascus.
84 USQUE ADEO NIHIL EST Pers. 1.267.
CAELUM HAUSIT Cf. 6.637, Verg. Aen. 10.899, Ovid Trist. 4.8.25, Curtius
5.5.19, Lucil. 601 ne caelum bibat; recollection of ones native caelum Livy 5.54.3;
is common.
AVENTINI Unlike the Esquiline and Viminal (71), this was not a high-class
district (A. Merlin LAventin dans lAntiquit (1906) 337).
BACA SABINA The olive (Sil. 3.528 gens bacifero nutrita Sabino; RE Oelbaum
2003.31), contrasted with the imported damsons and figs and conveying a hint of
Sabine toughness and austerity (10.229).
86 sqq. The following lines employ many of the topics which had become established in portraits of (adulatores) in comedy, |[169] e.g. Gnathon in
Ter. Eun. 248 sqq., 416 sqq. (on which cf. Cic. Lael. 93).
PRUDENS with genitive gerund Tac. Ann. 3.69.5.
LAUDAT Cf. 412; the activity of the e.g. in Eupolis I M =
159.9K, cf. Lucian Adv. Ind. 7 and 20, Philostr. Vit. Soph. 1.25.201.
AMICI i.e. patroni, cf. 101, 107, 112, 116, 121 and p. 21.

142A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

889 There is a general resemblance to Mart. 12.82.910. Hercules is the bullnecked type, short and thick (Philostr. Vit. Soph. 2.1.12). A wrestler should not be
according to Philostr. Gymn. 35, who however does not like statues of
Hercules which are (dilatare cervicem Sen. Ep. 15.2). Collum and cervices (which can include the shoulder-muscles; on 1.64) appear to be contrasted.
This fight is a common subject in works of art (Philostr. Imag. 2.21, RE Antaios
23412).
ANGUSTAM Cf. Cic. De Or. 1.261, Apul. Flor. 17.13; he is . Nero
was flattered on his voice, which was in fact exigua (Suet. 20.1). The ugly rhythm
of 901 matches the voice.
91 The humorous epic circumlocution conceals a pun (Plathner in Rupertis
excursus; Bcheler Rh. Mus. 29, 1874, 637 = Kl. Schr. 2.79; Burge CP 61, 1966, 111);
his squeaky voice is that of a gallus (cock; cf. Quintil. 11.3.51) or a Gallus (eunuch
priest; cf. 2.111). Mart. 13.64 succumbit sterili frustra GALLINA MARITO. / hunc
matris Cybeles esse decebat avem (the gallus should have been a Gallus; cf. ibid.
63). For other such puns cf. Suet. Nero 45.2, RAC Gallos 986; one is implicit in
the monument of Modius Maximus the Gallus, which shows a gallus on a modius
maximus (F. J. Dlger 5 (1943) 730). Novius 20 applies gallulascere to boys
whose voice is breaking.
QUO The lower animals are instruments, not agents.
MARITO Often applied to animals (e.g. Pliny NH 10.155), cf. NisbetHubbard
on Hor. Odes 1.17.5. The antecedent, which incorporates a comparatio compendiaria (maritus = vox mariti), is attracted into the relative clause (cf. on 11.85).
MORDETUR The cock holds the hen by the crest in mating (hence here
MARITO).
92 NOBIS We Romans (but not Umbricius himself, 41 sqq.); cf. Suet. Nero 22.3,
Pliny Pan. 66.
93100 i.e. an melior Graecis est comoedus cum Dorida agit? Comic actors
can represent women perfectly, but even they when doing this are no better than
the Greeks; only in mimes were there actresses. For the position of comoedus cf.
fortuna 40, potestas 4.71, Niobe 6.177, Horatius 7.62, Pythagoras 15.173; commas
around comoedus would help. Three stock roles of fabula palliata are mentioned;
the meretrix |[170] Thais (cf. 6.O.26), the matrona, the ancilla Doris (there are servant girls of this name in Menander Perikeiromene and Kolax fr. 951.18; also in the
Enchiridion (?) PSI 99).
The pallium is the Roman name for the upper garment of both sexes in Greece;
having work to do Doris does not wear it, just as workmen at Rome wore only the
tunic, not the toga; this one character of the palliata has no pallium. Cf. Pollux
4.154 in comedy .
PALLIOLO avoids pll (cf. on 10.334); but this diminutive is quite common.
97 For similar euphemisms cf. RAG Genitalien 4 and imis ventris Apul. Met. 8.29.

SATIRE three143

98100 DEMETRIUS and STRATOCLES were admired by Quintilian, who

speaks of them in the past tense (for ERIT cf. on 238). Demetrius excelled as married women and strict old ladies; there is a tombstone of a . from Rome,
but it probably does not belong to this one (L. Moretti Inscr. Graec. Urb. Rom.
474). For Haemus cf. 6.198 (mollius, cf. 6.63 etc.; actors were often reproached for
effeminacy, RAC Effeminatus 627).
ILLIC In Greece; the actors are comoedi (94), but so is the whole race.
100 RIDES Since this means not Juvenal (addressed by Umbricius) but one,
we might expect rds (cf. 289, 7.14, 8.11, 13.215), as poscas, dixeris. It is a paratactic
form of condition, cf. 13.227 and on 6.329.
MAIORE CACHINNO CONCUTITUR A cackling alliteration. For the phrase
cf. 11.2, 13.171, Lucr. 1.919, 2.976 risu tremulo concussa cachinnent. Even without
MAIORE, CACHINNO would express exaggerated risus (Cic. Tusc. 4.66); such
exaggerated reaction is characteristic of the flatterer (Cic. Lael. 98), cf. Ammianus
AP 9.573, Theophr. Char. 2 ().4, Plut. Quomodo adulator 54d.
102 NEC bears the sense of nec tamen, cf. 2.130, 10.120, 13.114, 15.65, KS 2.42,
Lewis and Short D and OLD 5 s.v. neque.
IGNICULUM A brazier; ENDROMIS 6.246; ACCIPIT he has a slave hand him
one; AESTUO 2.71; DIXERIS = dicas cf. Plaut. Truc. 51 and Handford p. 108.
104 Mart. 2.18.2, 4, 6 iam sumus ergo pares; 9.61.12 omni / et nocte et die
(without omni Juv. 7.61, 13.198 and often), Stat. Silv. 1.4.117 quis omni / luce mihi,
quis nocte timor. The line is related to 93103 as 923 are to 8691; MELIOR cf. 93.
1056 ALIENA FACIE Stat. Silv. 2.6.53.
IACTARE MANUS in admiration; Dio Cass. 61.20.3, Mart. 10.10.10, Philostr.
Vit. Soph. 2.32.626, Lucian Rhet. Praec. 22. |[171]
IACTARE LAUDARE is an asyndeton bimembre; see index s.v.
107 SI BENE RUCTAVIT Diodorus ap. Athen. 6.239e line 35; Roman etiquette permits belching (4.31).
108 i.e. if the rich man has drunk off his glass with no heel-taps CREPITUS
is the gurgling sound with which the last drops leave the cup Duff; cf. Lucil. 139
vertitur oenophori(s) fundus and the type of cup called from the gurgling sound (LSJ s.v. II and Athen. 6.262b). This seems an anticlimax, but the idea
put forward by Bcheler (in Friedlaender) after others that a kind of chamberpot
is meant cannot be backed by archaeology or verbal usage;
Plut. Ant. 62.6 is not explicit. Green suggests taking 1078 closely together and
assuming that the trulla (Blmner1 407) was placed upside down on the floor for
the dinner guests to urinate at it in competition; but 108 looks to be separate from
107, and what we want is a commonplace activity which the patron does particularly well.
109 Housmans emendation would be acceptable if Juvenal elided at the trochaic caesura in the fourth foot, which he does not. Green proposes nihil <huic

144A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

vel>; a combination of haplography and homoeoteleuton (vel appearing as or u)

could have caused the omission.
110 LARIS (cf. 8.14; MATRONA LARIS = materfmlas) and VIRGO emphasise the sanctitas. SPONSUS LEVIS ADHUC the prospective husband of the
daughter, still beardless (6.356); betrothals were often made at a young age (SG
4.123 = 4.133).
NEC rather than neque cf. 6.203, 10.235.
112 SI NIHIL EST Failing these 6.331; RESUPINAT cf. 8.176, 6.126.
113 is made up out of 52 (secreti) and 57 (timearis).
11418 do not fit in quite smoothly and look like a later addition.
ET QUONIAM COEPIT Cic. Orat. 54, cf. In Pis. 51; for the praeteritio with
TRANSI cf. p. 34 and 7.190.
GYMNASIA Cf. on 68. The Romans regarded them as hot-beds of immorality
because nudity was usual in them, but one might look for better from a philosopher like Egnatius.
MAIORIS ABOLLAE of a bigger wig, perhaps a colloquial phrase, perhaps
a comical substitute for maioris personae; cf. 16.13. The abolla was a thick double
(Serv. Aen. 5.421; replicantur abollae Mart. Cap. 7.802) cloak worn by Cynic and
cynicising Stoic philosophers (the or ; cf. Diog. Laert. 6.22, Zeller
2.145.318, Mart. 4.53.5). Cf. 4.76, Wilson 84, Blmner1 21718, Marquardt 570.
116 Tac. Ann. 16.32. In A.D. 66 Q. (?) Marcius Barea Soranus (as he is now
known) was prosecuted on the grounds of his association with Rubellius Plautus and suspicion of plotting a revolt in Asia; |[172] his daughter Servilia too had
consulted magicians, actually about the outcome of the trial. P. Egnatius Celer,
a Stoic client of Soranus, was a witness against him (not actually the delator, as
Juvenal says) and dedit exemplum praecavendi specie AMICITIAE falsos; cf.
Hist. 4.10 Celer professus sapientiam, dein testis in Baream, proditor corruptorque
AMICITIAE, cuius se magistrum ferebat (Urlichs transposed the last clause to follow Baream, which would suit Juvenals discipulum). on 6.552 says that he fili
am Bareae Sorani, (quam) cum ipse ad magicam discendam esset hortatus, detulit
Neroni, ob quam rem mori cum patre iussa est a Nerone. The support which this
gives to Ritters (Philol. 5, 1850, 567) discipulamque is slight, and in spite of Soranus advanced age he may reasonably be called the discipulus of Egnatius; Roman
noblemen often maintained philosophers in their houses as a kind of domestic
chaplain (SG 3.260 = 3.283, Clarke 75 and 80, Kroll2 2.122, Allen and DeLacy CP 34,
1939, 5965). It must however be admitted that SENEX has little point if the pupil
with which it is contrasted was of much the same age; perhaps we are to infer that
old age should have induced him to behave better.
The punctuation may be either Stoicus occidit Baream, delator amicum, discipulumque senex or Stoicus occidit Baream delator amicum, discipulumque senex; cf.
1.33 delator amici.

SATIRE three145

OCCIDIT Cf. 37.

DELATOR Cf. 1.33, 4.48, 10.70. This class of men arose largely because Augustus in his marriage-laws granted rewards to those who deferebant to the treasury
the names of those not entitled to receive inheritances (cf. Tac. Ann. 3.25, Momm
sen2 877 sqq., Kaser2 356, Baumann 545, 2213). But they became much more
dangerous under the lex Iulia de maiestate, by which a quarter of the victims
property went to the informer (hence called quadruplator); this began to happen under Tiberius (Tac. Ann. 1.72, 2.50 with Koestermann Historia 5, 1955, 84;
Mommsen2 51011). Nero at one point reduced the rewards of delatores under the
lex Papia (Suet. 10).
RIPA CABALLI Egnatius was a native of Beirut (Dio Cass. 62.26.2), but,
unless Juvenal has made a mistake, had evidently been educated (nutritus; cf. Hor.
Epist. 2.2.41) at Tarsus, which was a famous centre of study (Strabo 14.5.13.673; in
particular it produced the Stoics Athenodorus and Nestor) and the name of which
was derived from . Most authors link this with the hoof of Pegasus, which
was said to have been broken there; but Dion. Per. 86970 has ,
which and Eustathius ad loc. say means feather (cf. RE Pegasos 59.40, Tarsos
2414.50). The ripa is that of the river Cydnus, which flowed through the city. Others take the reference to be to Jaffa, where Perseus was said to have landed (Tarsus
was also |[173] said to have been founded by him, RE l.c. 2415.1); but mythological
links between Perseus and Pegasus are faint.
GORGONEI CABALLI 11718 have been in the sublime style of epic-type periphrastic allusion beloved by Juvenal, but all is punctured by the last, undignified
word (10.60, 11.195); cf. Pers. prol. 1 fonte caballino (Hippocrene struck out by the
hoof of Pegasus) and contrast Ovid Ex Ponto 4.8.80 Gorgonei equi, Fasti 3.450.
Pegasus sprang from the blood of Medusa when her head was cut off.
119 NON EST LOCUS HIC Cf. 22; to be a Roman one has to leave Rome,
cf. 61.
120 Cf. Cic. Phil. 2.15 tum Phormioni alicui, tum Gnathoni, tum etiam Ballioni.
GENTIS VITIO Cf. Ovid Met. 6.459, Curtius 8.5.17; Lucan 1.290 partiri non
potes orbem, / solus habere potes. To go with HABET a semper is evolved out of
NUNQUAM; cf. 6.18, 14.2334, KS 2.563, HS 825, Wackernagel 2.312.
122 FACILEM AUREM 5.107; STILLAVIT cf. instillare Hor. Epist. 1.8.16; LIMINE cf. 1.96, 100, 132; PERIERUNT they have been wasted, cf. 4.56 and Lucan
9.233, an instantaneous perfect (cf. Verg. Georg. 1.330, 2.306); LONGI SERVITII
cf. Hor. Serm. 2.5.99, putting AMICUM 121 in its true light; SUMMOVEOR cf.
1.37; MINOR IACTURA cf. 6.91.
126 NOBIS Romanis, contrasted with the Graeci just dealt with, who must not
take all the blame.
PORRO A transition, cf. 7.98.
OFFICIUM MERITUM Cic. Ad Fam. 11.17.1 non dico officia sed merita,

146A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

12.29.1 officia vel merita potius.

NOCTE 5.19; TOGATUS 1.96, Mart. 10.82.2 mane vel e media nocte togatus ero;
CURRERE 5.77.
128 For such assertions about aristocratic salutatores cf. 1.99120, Mart. 10.10
and 12.26. ORBIS is here feminine; because of their orbitas they are objects of
captatio (221, 4.19, 6.548, 12.99). For captatio, the consequence of a low rate of
marriage and reproduction in the upper classes, cf. also 5.98, 6.39, 10.202, 16.56,
Marquardt 74; the earliest striking document is Hor. Serm. 2.5, cf. Epist. 1.1.77.
DUDUM VIGILANTIBUS For the former cf. 10.333, for the latter 10.162, for
both Apul. Met. 4.10. This is what the praetor imagines and says to the lictor to
make him hurry.
130 PRIOR Cf. 1.102 and Hor. Serm. 2.6.24 ne prior officio quisquam respondeat
urge; SALUTET cf. 184; COLLEGA the other praetors.
131 SERVO Perhaps an exaggeration for liberto (cf. Pliny NH 13.22 and 18.7,
Shackleton Bailey on Cic. Ad Fam. 5.20.2 (vol. 1 p. 466), Mommsen1 3.428 n. 1 and
Ges. Schr. 3.21, Treggiari 265, Dessau |[174] on ILS 78201); but slaves too might be
courted (Sen. Ep. 47.13 and De Ben. 3.28.5, Epictet. 4.1.148).
CLUDIT LATUS Cf. Hor. Serm. 2.5.18 (with tegere, which is usual in this
phrase) etc. It is a sign of respect to walk on the left of another (Eutrop. 7.13.4) or
on his outside (Hor. l.c., Ovid Fasti 5.68).
INGENUORUM FILIUS Not just ingenuus himself.
132 ALTER The other, the servus. A tribunes pay is not explicitly attested, but
inferences about it are made by von Domaszewski 13941, Brunt PBSR 18, 1950,
689, Dobson Ancient Society 3, 1972, 200 and 203. Cf. Pliny NH 24.11 tribunorum
militum salariis emere (candelabra), remarking that a bronze one plus an ugly
slave costs 50,000 sesterces.
133 CALVINAE Perhaps alluding to the notorious Junia Calvina of Tac. Ann.
12.4 and 8, Sen. Apoc. 8, Suet. Vesp. 23.4 These would be matrons of rank, contrasted with the following scortum.
134 SEMEL AUT ITERUM Thes. iterum 559.33.
135 VESTITI Not one of the lowest type, who would be naked (on 6.122); Tac.
Ann. 15.37.3 contrasts lupanaria inlustribus feminis completa with scorta nudis corporibus, and cf. Sen. Contr. 1.2.7.
SELLA Cf. Plaut. Poen. 266 prosedas quae tibi olant stabulum statumque,
sellam et sessibulum merum; Catull. 37.68 and 14, Herter 87 n. 321, Blmner1 370
n. 2. Proseda from sedere is like prostibulum from (pro)stare (10.239).
CHIONEN Snow-White, a name commonly applied to prostitutes by Martial,
here derived particularly from 3.30.4 sportula nulla datur unde vir es Chiones?
(and with 2 quid Romae facis? cf. Juv. 41).
DUBITAS Because of her high price.
137 DA produce, a legal formula, cf. 16.29; here the protasis of a paratactic

SATIRE three147

conditional sentence.
HOSPES NUMINIS IDAEI P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, who because of his virtus was chosen in 204 B.C. to receive the image of Cybele brought from Pessinus
(IDAEI cf. 11.194); Livy 29.1114, Vogt Hermes 68, 1933, 84. The rhythm of 137 is
appropriately solemn.
PROCEDAT As testis.
NUMA His piety is rejected in favour of money, cf. 1216.
139 See on 6.265; but the joke at Minerva (TREPIDAM) punctures the great
deed described in a grand periphrasis.
140 Sen. Ep. 115.14 an dives omnes quaerimus, nemo an bonus.
141 PASCIT 9.67 and often; cf. on 3.167.
AGRI IUGERA Mart. 10.58.9.
PAROPSIS Originally a side-dish, then as here and often in Latin a dish in general (Marquardt 655, Blmner1 391, Hilgers 33 and 238); |[175] but here the Greek
name suggests luxuria. For the ablative cf. 168, for the collective singular 14.307
etc.
QUAM MULTA Seven fercula 1.94.
1434 Cf. 7.139 sqq., 14.207; Otto habere (1) with Nachtrge 169, 237, 273, Adamietz 22 n. 36, Sedgwick CQ1 21, 1927, 207, Gercke Rh. Mus. 48, 1893, 501, Garnsey
208, Levy in Studi B. Biondi 2 (1965) 87. There are protests against such ideas at
Ter. Ph. 9034 and Cic. De Off. 2.71. Cf. Hor. Epist. 1.6.367 fidem regina pecunia donat; but FIDEI here means belief in his word (see Jaekel on Menand. Sent.
752), not financial credit. Rich witnesses are regarded as more reliable by Cic. Pro
Q. Rosc. 44; cf. Callistratus Dig. 22.5.3 pr. (one must consider whether a witness)
locuples an egens sit, ut lucri causa quid facile admittat (Garnsey 212). From this
view develops the set phrase locuples testis, a reliable witness (RE locupletes 956);
on the other side a barrister may argue non esse ex fortuna fidem ponderandam
(Cic. Part. Or. 117).
ARCA cf. Petron. 137 clausum possidet arca Iovem.
IURES ARAS Hor. Epist. 2.1.16; cf. Juv. 13.89, 14.219 (that of Ceres, a goddess
with mysteries like the Cabiri).
SAMOTHRACUM The Cabiri, whose mysteries were celebrated in Samothrace (B. Hemberg Die Kabiren (1950) 303); for Roman interest in their cult cf. Tac.
Ann. 2.54, Donati Epigraphica 27, 1965, 45, Latte 274, SG 1.320 = 1.388. They were
said to avenge perjury (Suidas 2 p. 61 l. 26).
NOSTRORUM sc. deorum.
FULMINA Jupiters punishment of perjurers, 13.78 and 223.
146 DIS IGN. IPSIS Because he perjures himself through necessity, not wickedness.
147 MATERIAM P. IOCORUM Cf. 10.47, Sen. Dial. 7.27.2.
SORDIDULA The diminutive (on 6.425) probably suggests contempt rather

148A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

than somewhat dirty.

TOGA and CALCEUS The two distinctively Roman features of dress, cf. 1.119.
See Mart. 1.103.56 sordidior multo post hoc toga , calceus est sarta terque quaterque cute, 12.26.9 rupta cum pes vagus exit aluta. It was important for the toga to
be white, and it needed constant cleaning (Blmner1 214, Carcopino 158). For the
LACERNA see on 9.28.
1501 A repaired shoe (rather than lacerna) contrasted with that of 14950; for
the LINUM see Galen 19.134 K (a ).
VOLNERE and its derivatives regularly mean darn, repair (Blmner2
1.212).
NON UNA 6.218, 8.21314, 14.284.
1523 A bitter and not obvious reflection which suggests personal experience;
cf. Crantor (?) ap. Stob. 4.32.33 (5.791.10 Hense); on |[176] the other hand, Pisos
friends even if poor nulla superborum patiuntur dicta iocorum (Laus Pis. 115).
INQUIT See on 8.44.
154 The fourteen rows of seats behind the orchestra (on 178) in the theatre were
reserved for the equites by the Lex Roscia Theatralis promoted in 67 B.C. by the
tribune L. Roscius Otho (cf. 159, 14.324). This law was tempered by Augustus, but
was strictly revived by Domitian as censor (Suet. 8.3), and Martial 5 (published
A.D. 89) has many references to it (e.g. 23, 25, 38); cf. Scamuzzi Riv. Stud. Class. 17,
1969, 301, Reinhold Historia 20, 1971, 2812. Any eques whose property fell below
400,000 sesterces (on 1.106) lost his rank and his right to one of these seats; Cic.
Phil. 2.44 mentions a special place for bankrupts (cf. Scamuzzi ibid. 18, 1970, 47,
Stein 23 n. 2 and in general 22 sqq.). Horace too (Epist. 1.1.57 sqq.) disapproves of
the precedence given to property by the Lex Roscia; but one will note that Umbricius sympathy is not directed at the really poor of Rome.
SI PUDOR EST for very shame, a common phrase.
PULVINO Cf. Ovid AA 1.160 and on 6.353.
1559 For such people in the 14 rows cf. Hor. Epode 4.1516 and on 7.16. This of
course is not what the usher would actually say (cf. on 7.243).
LENONUM LANISTAE Cf. 6.216; for the lucre and ill repute of a lanista
cf. Mart. 11.66, for the infamia of a leno Julian Dig. 3.2.1. PRAECO an auctioneer;
his profession too was despised (7.6, Thielmann 54 n. 58; the praecones on inscriptions are nearly all slaves or low-born) but lucrative (Petron. 46.7; SG 1.1545 =
1.1723), and like the lanista, leno and gladiator he too is barred from office by the
Lex Iulia Municipalis 94104 (on 6 l.c.), alluded to by Cic. Ad Fam. 6.18.1 (cf. Kaser
ZRG 73, 1956, 239; Hinard Latomus 35, 1976, 730). Cf. Quintil. 1.12.17 sit locupletior
aliquis sordidae mercis negotiator et plus voci suae debeat praeco.
FORNICE Cf. 10.239, 11.173.
NITIDUS Housman dismisses nitidi with the remark praeconis nitor absentis
hic frustra exsplendescit; the nitidus filius corresponds to the cultos (cf. 189, 11.202)

SATIRE three149

iuvenes of 158, and both are contrasted with the ragged pauper of 14851. Women
were not alone in liking to make a show at the theatre (on 6.352).
PINNIRAPI Evidently a kind of gladiator, perhaps a retiarius, who snatched
feathers from the plumed helmet (6.256 cristae; Varro LL 5.142; SG 2.49 = 2.60)
of another; quotes Lucil. 122 cum septem incolumis <pinnis> redit ac recipit se.
Pinna or is a gladiators name (CIL 4.2387, 2389 Threx and murmillo; Robert pp. 945 no. 34 |[177] and 12930 no. 76 a retiarius). Rostovzeff Rm. Mitteil.
15, 1900, 2256 is not likely to be right in connecting with this pinn. iuvenum on
ILS 6635.
IUVENES i.e. fls (on 10.310).
VANO Cf. 8.15, 14.211.
1601 The two means of enrichment in a society in which wealth results mainly
from the accumulation of capital and is easily transmitted. Cf. MacMullen2 102;
Martial 10.47.3 would like res non parta labore sed relicta.
GENER as son-in-law, predicative. Hor. Epist. 1.6.36 uxorem cum dote regina pecunia donat (cf. on 144); Pliny Ep. 1.14.9.
PLACUIT Gnomic perfect (coupled with presents 1612 as at 13.1624, 14.174).
CENSU Ablative of respect.
SARCINULIS 6.146.
HERES A poor man would not be able to captare with presents.
162 When does he sit as assessor to the aediles?; cf. 6.497, Thes. consilium
461.22, RE s.v., Mommsen1 1.307. This passage would suggest that such assessors
were paid; SHA 11.7.6 implies an honorarium from the magistrate personally, but
probably refers to the professional consiliarii of late antiquity (W. Kunkel JAC
1112, 19689, 241 = Kl. Schr. 427). A poor man could hardly hope to be assessor to
a prefect or praetor, but might look for it in connection with the police and public
inspectorate of weights and food. Cf. Epictet. Ench. 25
.
AGMINE FACTO 10.218; cf. Sen. Ep. 104.19, Apoc. 13.5.
DEBUERANT Cf. Lygdamus 6.64 and similarly oportuerat, aequius fuerat etc.
(KS 1.173, Gaffiot Ant. Class. 1, 1932, 89); this is like the imperfect of neglected duty
(2.115). MIGRASSE is the aoristic infinitive, often used by poets for metrical reasons absent here, as at Ovid AA 1.496, Fast. 1.354, Met. 6.700; presumably Juvenal
wants to emphasise the idea of long ago (OLIM = iamdudum), cf. KS 1.1345, HS
352.
TENUES Cf. 7.80 (and 145), 8.120, 13.7.
MIGRASSE QUIRITES The Romans (cf. on 60) have to leave Rome, as Umbricius is doing; there is probably an allusion to the secessions of the plebs to the
Mons Sacer (Aventine) and Janiculum in 494, 450449, 287 B.C., and more particularly the proposal, quashed by Camillus, to move to Veii after the Gallic sack. Cf.
Suet. Nero 39 Veios migrate, Quirites (when Nero built his Golden House), Sen.

150A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Contr. 10.1 (30).15 , , .

164 Cf. 7.59 sqq.; pauper ubique iacet Ovid Fasti 1.218; Laus Pisonis 121, 255.
EMERGUNT cf. Pliny Ep. 6.23.5. |[178]
RES ANGUSTA DOMI Cf. 6.357, 12.10 and on 6.152; Cic. Part. Or. 112 angustiae
rei fmlaris, Tac. Ann. 12.52 angustias fmlares.
1656 ROMAE CONATUS Cf. 7.138.
MAGNO sc. constat; cf. 223 sqq. MAGNO MAGNO MAGNO anaphora
and redditio (cf. 2089) combined, as at Hor. Epist. 1.1.656.
HOSPITIUM Lodging (211, 7.70 etc.); cf. pensio 9.63 and Frier JRS 67, 1977, 32.
SERVORUM VENTRES 14.126; cf. pascit 141, Petron. 57 viginti ventres pasco.
Even the poor have to maintain their station and have slaves (see introduction).
168 FICTILIBUS Cf. 10.25, 11.20 and 108; an old Roman hero is found prandentem in fictilibus Pliny NH 33.142. For the ablative cf. on 141. CENARE picks up
cenula 167.
SUBITO By divine intervention, cf. Hor. Serm. 2.7.24.
MARSOS MENSAMQUE SABELLAM Types of primitive frugality, cf. 14.180;
here alluding to Verg. Georg. 2.167 Marsos pubemque Sabellam. For SABELLAM
(Samnite) cf. Sonnenschein CR1 11, 1897, 340b, RE Sabini 15701; for -QUE see on
10.170.
VENETO should not be printed with a capital; it means dark blue, the colour
of a poor mans hood in comedy (Kassel Philol. 106, 1962, 150), cf. pullo cucullo
Mart. 10.76.8. Such a hood is a poor mans present at Mart. 14.139.
DURO Cf. 9.29.
1712 Fronto p. 107 contrasts vita togata and rusticatio. The dead were arrayed
in the toga (Marquardt 347, Blmner1 484, RE Bestattung 348.19), but otherwise in
the country the unpopular (11.204) toga was rarely worn, cf. 179, Mart. 4.66.3 (cf.
on 225) etc.
ADMITTIMUS Cf. 1.21.
173 HERBOSO SIQUANDO (for the late position of this word see on 16.37)
TANDEM Theatrical performances are not so common here as at Rome, so
the grass gets a chance to grow between the stone seats. This looks forward to the
theme of the little country towns in 190 sqq.
REDT Perfect, cf. 6.128, 295 (559); 10.118 and on 8.85. This audience, unlike the
Roman, does not require novelty (cf. NOTUM).
EXODIUM Cf. on 6.71; probably an Atellan farce (cf. Balsdon1 278). Then
PERSONAE PALLENTIS HIATUM may refer in particular to Manducus, magnis
malis et late dehiscens Paul. Fest. p. 138; cf. Bieber fig. 8212. Perhaps this Punchlike mask was whitened (PALLENTIS). For the presence of children (RUSTICUS
INFANS 9.60) at the theatre cf. Plaut. Poen. 289, Vitruv. 5.3.1, Cic. Tusc. 1.37;
for terror caused by masks cf. Novius Agricola 2 quia enim repuerascis, fugitas
personas, |[179] pater; Sen. Dial. 4.11.2 timetur a pluribus sicut deformis persona ab

SATIRE three151

infantibus; ibid. 2.5.2; Mart. 14.176; Plut. De Exilio 5.600e; Callim. Hymn 3.701.
1756 describe a picturesque detail not required by the train of thought.
178 ORCHESTRAM At Rome reserved for the senators, here for the decurions
(RE decurio 2330.50).
CLARI HONORIS (cf. 1.110 and 117), SUMMIS A playful piece of irony.
SUMMIS AEDILIBUS The two chief magistrates cf. 10.102.
TUNICAE Cf. tunicata quies Mart. 10.51.6; whereas at Rome even the populus
had to wear the toga in the theatre (cf. 11.204).
ALBAE Municipal magistrates seem to have had the right to the clavus on their
tunics (Hor. Serm. 1.5.34), but these ones do not bother, whereas Horaces praetor
insists on his dignity. But it may simply mean that they have a clean one in honour
of the dierum festorum maiestas (cf. albatus Hor. Serm. 2.2.61). When Habinnas
enters amictus veste alba at Petron. 65.3, Encolpius thinks he is the praetor.
180 ULTRA VIRES Because the toga necessary for a client is expensive to buy
and keep clean. Cf. Hor. Epist. 1.18.22 and Thielmann ALL 4, 1887, 379. For living
beyond ones means cf. 7.129 sqq. and SG 1.18 = 1.20.
HABITUS Genitive of the noun, cf. 177; NITOR cf. 157.
181 SUMITUR is borrowed, cf. Sen. Ep. 26.8; it is aes alienum (cf. ALIENA).
182 COMMUNE VITIUM Cf. Thes. communis 1970.61.
AMBITIOSA (pretentious) PAUPERTATE An oxymoron; cf. 6.352 sqq., Sen.
Ep. 50.3, Quintil. 2.4.29.
OMNIA ROMAE CUM PRETIO Cf. 7.138, pretiosa fames Mart. 10.96.9.
184 QUID DAS To the rich mans ostiarius; cf. Hor. Serm. 1.9.57, Sen. Dial.
2.14.1 and 15.5, Amm. Marc. 14.6.15. SALUTES Cf. 130.
COSSUM See on 8.21; VEIENTO presumably thinking of the Fabricius of 4.113
(cf. 6.113), though other members of his gens carried the name.
ALIQUANDO Even bribery does not succeed at the first attempt.
RESPICIAT Mart. 10.10.5; aliquando respexit Sen. Dial. 10.2.5.
CLAUSO LABELLO non resalutans Mart. 10.70.5, Sen. Dial. 9.12.4, cf. Lucian
Nigrin. 21; the opposite Petron. 44 quam benignus resalutare.
186 BARBAM sc. amati. Even a capillatus acersecomes (8.128, 5.59) eventually
has to grow up and have his hair and beard cut, which would be an operation performed with ceremony; cf. Petron. 29 (the beard), Stat. Silv. 3.4 and Mart. 9.1617
(the hair). Friedlaender |[180] understands barbam suam on the grounds that anyone with a beard would be too old to be an amatus (cf. Mart. 5.48, where we find
deposuere comas), but this is stylistically improbable and cf. Petron. 73.6 hodie
servus meus barbatoriam fecit (and so let us make merry). The first cutting of the
beard was an important occasion (Suet. Cal. 10 is mentioned as an exception)
when gifts might be offered (Apollonides AP 10.19 = GowPage GP 1273); cf. Marquardt 599, Blmner1 26970 and on 4.103.
METIT DEPONIT Not necessarily in person; cf. on 37 and 16.13.

152A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

LIBIS To be offered to the Lares; cf. Ovid Am. 1.8.94, AA 1.429 a libum on a
birthday in return for which a present is to be given (hence VENALIBUS).
ACCIPE sqq. As this is punctuated by Clausen, it is a remark addressed by
Umbricius (i.e. Juvenal) to the client, and means take the cake and keep it to make
you simmer with anger; against this FERMENTUM used metaphorically needs
and elsewhere always has support from the context, and TIBI HABE is normally
a brusque form of refusal I dont want, cf. 5.118, Sen. De Ben. 6.23.8, Thes. habeo
2399.47 sqq., 2429.21, Landgraf ALL 8, 1893, 45, Fordyce on Catull. 1.8 (where he
points out that it is used for disparagement), Monaco in Studi Q. Cataudella 3
(1972) 21, and the formula of divorce quoted on 6.146. The words therefore must
be spoken by the client (for similar abrupt introduction of direct speech cf. 5.135
and 166, 6.O.27 and 492, 7.124 and 158, 16.17) and should be in inverted commas;
he says to the slave take your money and keep your cake. Perhaps the cake is
called leaven on the lucus a non lucendo principle (the flamen Dialis could not
touch farinam fermento imbutam, Gell. 10.15.19); or it may imply I hope it blows
you up inside, dirumparis. The client should be obsequious rather than brusque
to the slave, but his temper gets the better of him. C. F. Hermann Rh. Mus. 4, 1846,
314 also suggests that the cake has no leaven, and supposes the client to tell the
slave to take the money to supply its place; but this does not suit TIBI HABE (nor
does the explanation of Thomson CR1 42, 1928, 172).
188 TRIBUTA refers both to quid das and to venalibus.
CULTIS More so than the clients 158; cohors culta servorum Sen. Ep. 110.17.
190 TIMET AUT TIMUIT Cf. 8.70 and HS 708; this well illustrates the origin
of the gnomic perfect.
GELIDA Hor. Odes 3.4.22 frigidum Praeneste seu Tibur supinum; because of its
hilly situation (14.88, where it is again coupled with Tiburis arce). It was a popular site for villas (Balsdon1 198). It is feminine also at Verg. Aen. 8.561, cf. KS 1.31,
Madvig 312. |[181]
VOLSINIIS In Etruria; the other towns mentioned are in Latium. GABIIS See
on 6.56.
PRONI Juvenal sees a hill-town as leaning forwards, whereas Horace (above)
sees it leaning backwards.
193 NOS But we; adversative asyndeton.
TIBICEN A prop (Ovid Fasti 4.695, Donatus Vit. Verg. 24). Insulam fulcire is
significantly common in the jurists (VIR s.v. fulcire II), cf. Sen. De Ben. 6.15.7.
SIC i.e. tibicine.
LABENTIBUS The people are named instead of the house (labentem domum
Sen. l.c.), cf. on 10.16.
VILICUS Mart. 12.32.23 and perhaps CIL 6.9483, the agent who looks after the
insulae for the landlord.
196 RUINA Cf. 11.13. NOCTE METUS 268 sqq.

SATIRE three153

198 POSCIT AQUAM Cf. Prop. 4.8.58, Dio Cass. 57.14.10

; Plut. Rom. 20.12 ; Sen. Ep. 17.3; Aristoph. Thesm. 241;
[Quintil.] Decl. 12.6 aqua incendio inclamari publice solet.
IAM FRIVOLA TRANSFERT UCALEGON Juvenal ironically dignifies the
poor man by alluding to Aen. 2.311 iam proximus ardet / Ucalegon; he loses all
his property like the Trojans, but the modern Troiugenae are so impoverished
that they own only frivola (5.59, cf. Ulpian Dig. 13.7.11.5; like those listed Mart.
12.32). Juvenal keeps Vergils rhythm, but transfers the metonymy (regarded as
bold, Quintil. 8.6.25) to 201 and makes it less striking. [Addendum originally on p.
623: See OSullivan AJP 99, 1978, 456.]
TABULATA 10.106, Gell. 15.1.2; perhaps thinking of Aen. 12.672 flammis inter
tabulata uolutus / ad caelum undabat vertex. There is a striking alliteration of t,
which may suggest trepidation or the crackle of flames. Ucalegon lives on a lower
storey, the poor man on one higher than the third, just below the roof; cf. Mart.
1.117.7 scalis habito tribus, sed (and that too) altis. More storeys had been known,
and though Nero had restricted the height of buildings (Tac. Ann. 15.43), the fact
that Trajan had to re-enact restrictions ([Aurel. Vict.] Epit. 13.13; 60 feet) shows
that they had not been effective; Mart. 7.20.20 mentions 200 stairs, which if meant
literally would indicate six or seven storeys. Cf. on 269; Poehlmann 903; SG 1.4 =
1.5; Wotschitzky in Natalicium C. Jax (1955) 151.
TIBI Anyone, not Juvenal who is being addressed.
200 The scare starts at the foot of the stairs.
201 TEGULA Collective (Livy 5.55.3) tiling; so also and often materials (cf. 7.46, Svennung 169). Suet. De Gramm. 9 habitare sub tegulis (in a cena
culum, 10.18).
MOLLES Hor. Odes 1.37.18, Mart. 11.104.9. A sentimental detail; |[182] he is so
high up that he has the society of the birds, not other humans.
203 CORDO This is clearly right; Umbricius would not feel sympathy for anyone with the Greek name Codrus (cf. on 1.2). A poor Cordus Mart. 3.15.
PROCULA (cf. 2.68) must have been a dwarf. GLK 7.395.1 equates proculus
with magnus and , so that one might suspect a (on 8.32);
but the statement does not seem trustworthy.
MINOR with the ablative of comparison here means too small for, cf. on 4.66:
URCEOLI 10.64; the diminutive and the monosyllabic ending indicate modesty.
204 ABACI A square slab, here his sideboard (cf. Pliny NH 37.13, Thes. s.v.
42.22, Marquardt 319, Blmner1 126 and 128 n. 1, DE s.v.), which perhaps is not
large enough to hold the cantharus (a deep drinking cup; Blmner1 406, Hilgers
46 and 136) as well as the six urceoli; but Juvenal may envisage the cantharus
placed on a shelf of the abacus.
NEC NON ET Humorous epic grandeur (9.88, 10.51), immediately counterbalanced by PARVULUS.

154A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

EODEM <E> So E. Matthias De Scholiis in Iuvenalem (1875; Diss. Phil. Halenses

2) 292, and probably read this; it is hardly likely that we should assume a use
of sub made of attested only in late inscriptions (Killeen Glotta 42, 1964, 213).
Attempts to limit Juvenals use of e rather than ex are not convincing, and even
if it were necessary to add ex we should still do this. EODEM hardly means more
than eo (a form which Juvenal would not use; on 7.41), which can be parallelled,
though not in Juvenal (HS 188, Svennung 303, Gudeman on Tac. Dial. 18 p. 306;
e.g. Suet. Galba 19.1). Whatever we read the abacus is presumably of marble, like
the lapis albus which is part of Horaces modest supellex (Serm. 1.6.116); but the
difficulty in the reading of the manuscripts lies in the clumsy way in which the
explicit information that it is of marble is dragged in at the last moment. The
recumbent Centaur-figure acting as a would be despised by a rich
man if it were only in marble (11.122 sqq.; I cannot see much force in the claim that
a recumbent figure seems unsuitable for a support, since with a centaur his human
head and trunk would remain erect).
206 IAM VETUS go together, cf. 8.153, 11.77.
CISTA (7.11). He keeps his books in a basket, having no foruli (219); cf. Marquardt 6778.
207 DIVINA CARMINA In the Graeci libelli.
OPICI 6.455. was an old name for the inhabitants of |[183] Southern
Italy, in Italic Opsci or Osci (Festus 189, E. T. Salmon Samnium (1967) 28). Thence
it can mean barbarous, rustic, uncivilised; Cato ap. Pliny NH 29.14 (Graeci) nos
quoque dictitant barbaros et spurcius nos quam alios opicon (-os codd.) appellatione foedant (so perhaps Philodemus AP 5.132.7 = GowPage GP 3234; but Gow and
Page deny this sense); with particular reference to lack of knowledge of Greek,
Tiro ap. Gell. 13.9.4 and then Gellius himself (11.16.7) and Fronto; cf. Otto opicus,
with Nachtrge 113. This is a humorous golden line (on 4.2831); the juxtaposition of DIVINA OPICI (cf. 7.28) is particularly pointed, as if the mice would have
had more respect for the divina carmina if they had known Greek.
RODEBANT MURES For the nibbling of books by mice cf. Ariston AP 6.303.5
= GowPage HE 798, Lucian Adv. Indoct. 17, Pease on Cic. De Div. 2.59. The famous relief of Homer by Archelaus apparently originally showed two mice nibbling at a roll (West HSCP 73, 1969, 123 n. 35). The wording recalls the anonymous
verse quoted by Quintil. 8.3.19 praetextam in CISTA mures rosere camilli (? Camilli).
208 Ovid Met. 6.193 quis enim negat hoc? <I assert this> for who can deny it?
TOTUM NIHIL Ter. Andr. 314 id aliquid nihil est; Ovid AA 1.151 et si nullus erit
pulvis, tamen excute nullum. NIL NIHIL is an instance of redditio (cf. 1656).
FRUSTA ROGANTEM Mart. 11.27.3; this and NUDUM are chiastically answered in reverse order in 211.
HOSPITIO TECTOQUE Hendiadys. Cf. on 166.

SATIRE three155

212 SI But if with adversative asyndeton; so 211 should end with a colon.
CECIDIT It collapses as the result of being burnt out; but this is a surprising
word in a context which has also involved ruina (1906). Cf. casus 214.
HORRIDA IGNEM (214) , variatio (Quintil. 9.3.45), followed by
disiunctio with anaphora.
HORRIDA PULLATI The squalor and sordes of mourning, for which cf.
10.245, Lucan 2.1729, RE luctus 1700.
DIFFERT (cf. Thes. s.v. 1074.60) VADIMONIA There is a iustitium and the
magistrate postpones the hearings at which defendants are bound to appear; likewise at the funerals of prominent men in the inscriptions quoted by Reynolds JRS
61, 1971, 143 (not to mention members of the imperial family), cf. F. Vollmer De
Funere Publico (Neue Jahrb. suppl. 19.6, 1893) 339.
ODIMUS Express hatred, curse; cf. 6.272.
215 ARDET sc. domus.
MARMORA Marble to build a new house (14.89 and 307; on 1.12). |[184]
IMPENSAS presumably means building materials (Thes. s.v. 552.12), as e.g.
Frontin. De Aquaeduct. 118 and 124 and the mining inscription in FIRA 1 p. 500.9,
though the same inscription has impensas conferat (13) of money (cf. CIL 8.23422
conlatis omnibus impensis).
The absurdity of giving gifts to the rich and not the poor is also remarked by
Pliny Ep. 9.30.1. The actual gifts listed are contrasted with 2037, and in particular
219 with 2067; the rich man values the books merely as furniture, not for their
contents.
21618 There is something wrong with the text here. As it stands 218 ought to
mention something specific enough to be contrasted with the marble and bronze
statues of 21617, and the feminine haec is surprising (it would have to be referred
to mater 212). It suffices to alter haec to aera with Housman; some fine piece by
Euphranor and bronzes of Polyclitus which once adorned the temples of Asia.
Euphranor and Polyclitus worked in both bronze and marble, and at 8.103 Juvenal thinks of the marble statues of the latter, but both were more notable for
bronze (Pliny NH 34.77 lists the former among sculptors in bronze). Euphranor
also painted.
ORNAMENTA DEORUM Cf. Livy 26.30.9 and (of paintings) Cic. 2 Verr. 4.123;
Augustus (Mon. Anc. 24.1) declares that he restored ornamenta () to
the temples of Asia. On the loss of statues by the provinces to Rome cf. 8.102 sqq.
219 LIBROS A library is a necessary part of a house, Sen. Dial. 9.9.7. FORULOS
Book-cases (Suet. Aug. 31).
MEDIAM To stand in the middle; it is less likely to mean dimidiam (Thes. s.v.
596.2, KrebsSchmalz 2.68, Svennung 584; cf. on 12.30) i.e. a bust of her.
MINERVAM As goddess of culture; statues of her seem to have stood in the
great libraries of Ephesus, Pergamum and Timgad, cf. H. Thiersch Nachr. Gt-

156A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

tingen n.s. 2, 19368, 229 (but note the reservations of Wendel Zentralblatt fur
Bibliothekswesen 55, 1938, 649).
220 MODIUM ARGENTI modius (cf. Otto s.v. and add Lucian Gallus 12, Sat.
21) shows that argentum means money, but the context unhappily suggests that
it means silver plate.
REPONIT In place of what he had before; contrast 20811.
PERSICUS (cf. introduction to 11) may (a) live in a house called domus Asturici
(212) after a previous owner (cf. Suet. Aug. 72.1, Nepos Att. 13.2), (b) be identical
with Asturicus; so Groag RE Fabius no. 121, who thinks that there may have been
a Fabius Persicus Asturicus, connected with Paullus Fabius Persicus cos. A.D. 34,
whose father Paullus Fabius Maximus had been legatus in Spain, (c) be an entirely
unconnected new example. |[185]
ORBORUM Cf. on 129.
TAMQUAM Cf. on 47 and Bennett ALL 11, 1900, 410. Tongilius (Mart. 3.52; cf.
casus in urbe and Juv. 214) incurred the same suspicion.
223 If you can tear yourself away from the races, cf. 6.87, 11.53 and on 8.117.
SORAE Towns in Latium (Sil. 8.3948), all near Aquinum.
PARATUR can be bought (5.56, 7.66, 6.465, 11.21, 14.140 and 200), not just
rented.
225 TENEBRAS A dark garret (cf. Prop. 3.15.17); Mart. 3.30.3 fuscae pensio cellae (cf. Juv. 7.28). On the expense of Rome and the cheapness of country towns
cf. Pliny NH 14.50, Mart. 4.66 (cf. on 171; he comments on the absence of fires 13),
SG 1.18 = 1.19, 2.186 = 2.332, Duncan-Jones 345 and 364, Brunt2 86, Frier JRS 67,
1977, 34, S. Mrozek Prix et Rmunration (1975) 34. For renting by the year cf. RE
suppl. 6.386.44.
HIC In the country towns; HORTULUS cf. 11.78. Horaces Sabine farm provided him with hortus et tecto vicinus iugis aquae fons and faba Pythagorae cognata
(Serm. 2.6.2 and 63, cf. Juv. 229).
PUTEUS Very necessary for an Italian garden (Pliny NH 19.60, Verg. Georg.
4.11415), cf. Mart. 9.18.34. This one is so shallow that a bucket can be dipped in
by hand (putei non sede profundi Colum. 10.25).
PUTEUS DIFFUNDITUR i.e. the water from it; some verbs may take either a
vessel or its contents as object, e.g. haurire poculum or vinum, cf. 277.
228 VIVE Choose this . The theme of cataloguing certain and choosing between them is quite a favourite; see Terzaghi Stud. It. 12, 1920, 364, la Penna
ASNP 242, 1955, 161, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 1.1 (pp. 12) with Fraenkel 231.
VILICUS HORTI Cf. 11.69, Priapea 24.1; a v. hortorum CIL 6.623.
229 A Pythagorean meal would be vegetarian, 15.173.
230 ALIQUID Thes. s.v. 1614.51; not as 1.74.
231 The spot of ground is so small that it is adequate, not for a capella or the
like, but only for a lizard (not even for two lizards), cf. Mart.

SATIRE three157

11.18. Lizards are so common in Italy that even the smallest plot would be sure to
have one.
232 AEGER functions as a noun, cf. 9.16, 12.122, 13.124 and on 2.9.
VIGILAND This scansion appears in Seneca (Tro. 264 and the spurious Herc.
Oet. 1862), and is offered also by the mss. of Lygdamus (who was very likely born
in A.D. 69) 6.3. It is doubtless rightly conjectured in the dative at Sen. Oed. 942, and
is later employed by Nemesianus. |[186]
SED See on 14.117. LANGUOREM Cf. 1.122.
2324 Good digestion depends on sleep.
IMPERFECTUS Undigested (Celsus 4.23.1).
ARDENTI (Pliny NH 21.130) cf. aestus Sen. NQ 4.13.57.
MERITORIA Cf. on 10.18 and Thes. s.v. 843.66, Ulpian Dig. 7.1.13.8, Blmner1
56 n. 2.
ADMITTUNT allow cf. 5.69. MAGNIS OPIBUS Ablative of price.
For the noises of Rome cf. Mart. 12.57.3 nec quiescendi / in Urbe locus est pauperi, whereas the well-off Sparsus has a house at Rome which does not suffer in
this way; cf. 4.64.1724 the house of Julius Martialis on the Janiculum. Hor. Epist.
2.2.79 strepitus nocturnos atque diurnos, 1.17.6 pulvis strepitusque rotarum; SG 1.19
= 1.21, Paoli 35.
236 INDE is understood by Adamietz 67 n. 145 to refer to what follows, in
which case a colon should be placed after morbi. But inde explained by what follows with asyndeton is so rare (Thes. quotes only Val. Max. 2.5.4) that it should not
be imported here. CAPUT source; Thes. s.v. 415.16.
A RAEDA was a heavy carriage used by travellers (10, 4.118). Almost the only
vehicles allowed to pass through Rome by day were those carrying materials for
public construction works (254 sqq.; Trajan cut down on their noise by cutting
down on public building, Pliny Pan. 51.1), hence either loading up had to take
place at the gates (10) or the noisy transit had to be made at night (for night travel
cf. on 10.20). Cf. SG 4.28 = 4.22, Marquardt 7301, Blmner1 4434, Carcopino 57,
CIL 12 593 (= ILS 6085).56 and the re-enactment by Hadrian SHA 1.22.6.
ARTO IN FLEXU Cf. 6.78, Tac. Ann. 15.38.4 artis itineribus hucque et illuc
flexis, Suet. Nero 38.1 angustiis flexurisque vicorum. The narrow winding streets
of Rome, partly due to the hilly site, are remarked by Diod. Sic. 14.116.9, and regarded by Livy 5.55.4 as a legacy of hasty reconstruction after the Gallic sack. Cf.
SG 1.5 = 1.6; after the great fire Nero improved the situation, Tac. 15.43.1 and 5
(Carcopino 534).
237 STANTIS In a traffic-jam.
CONVICIA MANDRAE may be objective genitive, abuse hurled at the herd
(cf. iurgia Codri Verg. Buc. 5.11), or subjective, abuse coming from <the drivers
of> the herd (CONVICIA can be applied to animal noises, but not quite of this
type; Thes. s.v:, 873.82); In Greek (see RE s.v.) means an animal-pen; here

158A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

it is due to Mart. 5.22.7 vixque datur longas mulorum rumpere mandras / quaeque
trahi multo marmora fune vides, where Martial probably has in mind the beasts
of burden of the building-contractors, also mentioned by Hor. Epist. 2.2.724 (cf.
on 235). |[187]
238 DRUSO The drowsy emperor Claudius, cf. on 8.40; the future ERIPIENT
(Celsus 2.7.25 somnus ereptus) causes no difficulty as it merely means are likely
to (cf. 239 sqq., 98, 7.81, 13.184 and on 1.126), and Juvenal is quite ready to speak of
those long dead as still alive (on 8.39). Emendations destroy the wit of the combination with the seals (for which cf. Pliny NH 9.19, 412).
239 VOCAT OFFICIUM Pers. 6.27.
VEHETUR (1.158) VENIET One might almost call these futures gnomic
(cf. on 238 and 7.187 etc.; HS 549, KS 1.1456), so the present in the protasis fits
well enough; but in any case it would not be unnatural, cf. 14.145 sqq., 16.18 sqq.
OFFICIUM A social duty; perhaps, since the rich man may have a nap (241),
here a morning call. Cf. 5.13, 2.132.
240 SUPER ORA Cf. Sen. Ep. 80.8, Pliny Pan. 24.5.
INGENTI LIBURNA The litter is like a warship (Torr 16, Casson1 141) which
can cut through the unda (243) of people. here and on 6.477 alleges the existence
of a type of litter called liburnata.
241 LEGET AUT SCRIBET Like the elder Pliny (Pliny Ep. 3.5.1516).
DORMIET Cf. 1.126, Pliny NH 26.14, cubile Sen. De Ben. 3.28.5 and perhaps
Pliny NH 37.17.
One should punctuate intus (namque fenestra), ante The contrast demands that dives must be in the same sentence as nobis, and tamen refers back to
241. The contrast is of the type in which the first element is subordinate in sense,
whereas the rich man is at his ease, we poor people toil.
242 NAMQUE Unelided as 11.50; FACIT SOMNUM 282 etc.
CLAUSA FENESTRA By means of curtains; cf. 1.64 and 124, 4.21, Marquardt 738, Blmner1 446.
244 UNDA Verg. Georg. 2.462, Stat. Th. 2.223.
PRIOR is contrasted with QUI SEQUITUR.
245 ASSERE Probably the pole of a litter, 7.132.
247 PINGUIA CRURA LUTO 7.131, Mart. 3.36.4, 10.10.8, 12.26.8; Lucian De
Merc. Cond. 13 and 24.
248 Cf. 16.245; PLANTA is collective; for MAGNA cf. 16.14; DIGITO toe.
249 NONNE VIDES Verg. Georg. 1.56, 3.103.
SPORTULA Trnkle ZPE 28, 1978, 171 takes this to mean a picnic on fare distributed to the members of a collegium; he quotes sportularum divisio celebratur
from inscriptions and points out that the word in this connection may mean particularly the meat as opposed to the bread and wine, which fits the stoves. Sportula
is somewhat similarly used at Suet. Claud. 21.4. It has usually been understood of

SATIRE three159

an , a club-dinner to which each guest brings his share of victuals, |[188] or

(Athen. 8.365a
). Here there is no literal basket, but
slaves carry the food with a portable stove (foculus, clibanus) to the meeting-place.
Cf. Sen. Ep. 78.23 non circa cenationem eius tumultus cocorum est ipsos cum opsoniis focos circumferentium cenam culina prosequitur; 104.6 illum odorem culinarum fumantium quae MOTAE
251 Cn. Domitius Corbulo the general was corpore ingens (Tac. Ann. 13.8.3).
Perhaps Juvenal derives his name from corbis, cf. SPORTULA; cf. on 2.58.
252 Heavy weights are still often carried on the head in Italy (cf. Prop. 3.9.5,
Paul. Fest. 16 s.v. arculus).
254 Cf. 148 and Pliny Ep. 4.16.2 adulescens scissis tunicis ut in frequentia solet
fieri.
2546 Cf. on 236; Sen. Ep. 90.9 pinus aut abies deferebatur longo vehiculorum
ordine vicis intrementibus; Tib. 2.3.43 urbisque tumultu / portatur validis mille columna iugis; Plut. Galba 8; Loane 38.
SERRACO 5.23, a heavy goods wagon.
ALTERA PLAUSTRA Probably poetic plural a second wagon (cf. on 4.92)
rather than a second set of wagons.
NUTANT MINANTUR Thinking of Verg. Aen. 2.6289, a tree about to fall.
257 NAM It may seem inconsequential to alter the load from timber to marble,
but cf. 10.2012 and on 8.19, 6.416.
SAXA LIGUSTICA Marble from Luna (RE s.v. and Steinbruch 2267, ES 5.121,
Blmner2 3.49), near Carrara, which had been part of Liguria (cf. Pers. 6.69) before being incorporated in Etruria by Augustus (L. Pareti Studi Minori 3 (1965) 98
sqq., R. Thomsen The Italic Regions (1947) 124).
MONTEM Stat. Th. 1.145 montibus Grais effulta nitebant atria; but here it is
a deliberate hyperbole, not a synecdoche.
259 DE rather than e, cf. 1.34.
25961 Sen. Ep. 57.6 quid enim interest utrum supra aliquem vigilarium ruat an
mons? nihil invenies (7) nunc me putas de Stoicis dicere qui existimant animam
hominis magno pondere extriti permanere non posse? ANIMAE means the breath
of life, not the soul which survives (2647); cf. Lucan 9.788 (to a snake whose venom liquefies the body) eripiunt omnes animam, tu sola cadaver. The destruction of
the anima at death is accepted as normal, but that of the body too is abnormal. It
is not likely that more animae means like a puff of wind (cf. Prop. 3.17.12 animae
modo in Housmans emendation).
OBTRITUM in a similar context Alfenus Dig. 9.2.52.2. |[189]
OMNE The corpse of each member of the vulgus who is killed.
261 DOMUS i.e. familia; the slaves are getting ready for the cena and the bath
which preceded it. Duff suggests that Juvenal may be thinking of the preparation

160A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

of the bath for Hector when he is already dead (Iliad 22.442). Cf. Petron. 115 hunc
(the drowned man) forsitan secura exspectat uxor.
STRIGLIBUS Syncope to avoid strglbus; so CIL 4.10566, Vitruv. 4.4.3 (of the
flutings of columns), glossaries. In hexameters one may compare cap(i)tibus Ennius Ann. 490, fac(i)lia CEL 2484, in trochaics perviglanda at Pervig. Ven. 46; see
generally Leumann 97, L. Mueller 456. This implement, here of metal, was used to
remove oil and sweat from the body (Marquardt 289); UNCTIS is a fixed epithet,
as the strigils have not been used yet on this occasion.
SONAT Now domus becomes the house itself; for the shift of meaning cf. 12.68
and on 14.82. The attractions of home life are underlined by the diminutives patellas, foculum.
LINTEA Towels (14.22); GUTO oil-flask (11.58, Marquardt 289, RE guttus 1953).
264 PUEROS Slaves.
AT ILLE often ends a line (cf. 4.120) with pathetic effect. ILLE the person concerned, the dominus; cf. on 10.179.
IN RIPA Of Styx or Cocytus (2.150) or Acheron etc. Juvenal bas emphatically
denied survival 2.149 sqq.; there is an obvious tone of joking and parody here.
Juvenal is not insensible to the pathos of such an end, but mocks the beliefs which
have grown up around it.
TAETRUM terribili squalore Charon Verg. Aen. 6.299(301).
PORTHMEA Petron. 121.117, CEL 1549.3 (CIL 10.1 *191 p. *9 seems to be forged),
Theocr. 17.49 etc.
CAENOSI GURGITIS 2.150, Aen. 6.296; the mud is a traditional feature as in
Aristophanes Frogs.
267 In Greece an obol was placed in the mouth of the dead as Charons
or (Callim. fr. 278; Lucian De Luctu 10, Catapl. 18, Dial.
Mort. 22.1 etc.); cf. Prop. 4.11.7 ubi portitor aera recepit. This custom came to Rome
as early as the third century B.C.; skeletons have been found with Roman coins between the teeth (cf. Samter2 203, Nock 2.716, RE Bestattung 349.34, RAC Geleit 959,
Blmner1 486, Marquardt 349, SG 3.298 = 3.317, Holst Symb. Osl. 9, 1930, 112). The
prematurely dead () would not be ferried across directly; cf. Aen. 6.325 with
Norden pp. 1014, Plaut. Most. 499, Waszinck Vig. Christ. 3, 1949, 108 = Opusc.
Sel. 112 and commentary on Tertull. De Anima pp. 5656, Cumont3 ch. 5 and 2 305
sqq. There are some inconsistencies in the beliefs about this, but J. ter Vrugt-Lenz
Mors Immatura (1960) is over-sceptical. |[190]
267 PORRIGAT ORE The corpse pops out his tongue with the coin on it.
268 ALIA Other than sleeplessness (232); DIVERSA (i.e. varia cf. 10.263 and on
10.23) shows that it does not mean other dangers, i.e. those of the night.
269 On the height of houses cf. 6.31 and on 199 above.
TESTA At first sight it looks as if this means roof-tiles; cf. Cic. De Domo 61
testis tectorum meorum; CIL 3.2083 = CEL 1060 is an epitaph on a man killed by a

SATIRE three161

falling tile, cf. Lucian Charon 6. But it is more likely to mean potsherds, the vasa
rimosa et curta; this is strongly suggested by 2747. Digest 9.3 is de his qui effu
derint vel deiecerint; such things were general in ancient cities (Dio Chrys. 32.71,
Aristoph. Ach. 616 and fr. 306; Carcopino 51). Then TECTIS means buildings,
not roofs.
CEREBRUM looks slangy; Hor. Odes 2.17.27, Apul. Met. 9.40.
SILICEM Pavement 6.350; IGNAVUS negligent.
273 A very unusual concluding rhythm, unique in Juvenal; cf. p. 38.
CASUS conveys both mischance and fall (of the pot).
ADEO for (on 11.131): ILLA on that particular night cf. 264.
PATENT i.e. with the shutters opened; 6.31.
VIGILES 8.158, 15.43; the personification here and in 277 is clear.
276 OPTES you must pray; cf. metuas 302 (prohibition) and on 1.14.
VOTUM MISERABILE 9.147, Stat. Th. 2.642
277 DEFUNDERE PELVES (6.430) i.e. their contents (cf. on 2267); a typical
Silver concentration of expression (cf. on 1.131) in which we have to supply mentally an antithesis (deicere) to defundere.
278 Neros escapades of this type were notorious; cf. McDaniel AJP 35, 1914, 58.
PETULANS A much stronger word than petulant, more like aggressive; cf.
6.297, Sen. Dial. 5.13.5 ebrietatis petulantia.
FORTE It is unusual.
27980 Iliad 24.10, cf. Sen. Dial. 9.2.12. The incongruity of the comparison indicates ridicule.
CUBAT IN FACIEM Celsus 7.26.5 I in ventrem cubare.
281 A clearly spurious line; Juvenal scans rg (often) and erg (9.82), as st
8.79 and est 8.164 (cf. BICS 22, 1975, 154). But in any case the conjunction should
be nam.
282 ANNIS Because of his youth.
283 COCCINA LAENA The colour is expensive (Pliny NH 37.204); the garment (5.131, 7.73), a thick warm cloak (Marquardt 570, Wilson 113), was worn over
other clothes when going out to dinner (Mart. 8.59.10).
COMITUM Clients (on 1.46); comitum ordo Verg. Aen. 11.94. |[191]
MULTUM FLAMMARUM Cf. 12.46, 7.24; with LAMPAS this forms a hendiadys.
AENEA indicates a wealthier owner than ferrea would.
LAMPAS Carried by a lampadarius (RE s.v.); cf. 7.225. Rome had no street
lighting, though Pompeii had (Casson2 359); cf. Marquardt 1489, Blmner1 419
and 450.
286 ME contrasted with hunc 283; so 285 should end with a colon. Umbricius
is , ; to have no slaves at all is a mark of extreme poverty
(Lucil. 243, Catull. 234, Mart. 11.32, Sen. Dial. 2.3.1). In Epicharmus fr. 35 Kai-

162A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

bel ap. Athen. 6.236a a man going home at night without a light, which only a
poor man like Umbricius would contemplate doing (LUNA), is beaten up by the
(= the Roman vigiles).
CANDELAE cf. Mart. 14.42; Festus 54 candelis pauperes, locupletes cereis utebantur; Maecenas ap. Sen. Ep. 114.5 cerei fila. Cerei were made of wax, candelae of
tallow.
DEDUCERE Escort.
287 His thrift indicates his poverty.
288 ! The PROOEMIA are the iurgia (292 sqq.) which proludunt
(5.26).
28991 TU PULSAS, EGO AGAS TE The contrast in 289 requires not
only the common indefinite TU but also an indefinite EGO (Nutting AJP 45, 1924,
377); then the person indicated by the latter is shifted into the second person,
which usually involves a subjunctive verb as AGAS; for the indicative PULSAS cf.
HS 419 and on 100 above. See also on 5.25.
290 PARERE NECESSE EST Catull. 62.62, Lucan 6.494.
QUID AGAS CUM 4.14.
UNDE VENIS Hor. Serm. 1.9.62. The following questions are a rude version of
the Homeric ; ; Cf. Verg. Aen. 8.114,
Hor. Epist. 1.7.53 and the insulting greeting of Pelias in Pind. Pyth. 4.97.
ACETO An insult; his host is assumed only to be able to afford cheap sour
wine.
CONCHE 14.131, a cheap food (cf. Athen. 4.159f, Andr 36). For the largely
vegetable diet of the poor cf. on 1.134. The singular is collective cf. KS 1.68.
TUMES Beans being flatulent (Ovid MF 70 and Pease on Cic. De Div. 1.62).
SECTILE PORRUM 14.133; leeks cut when just above the soil, contrasted with
p. capitatum, when they had grown to a head. The assailant pretends that he can
smell this vegetable on the victims breath (cf. Mart. 13.18; graves id. 5.78.4). |[192]
SUTOR Another insult; on 4.153.
ELIXI v.l. caput vervecinum Mart. 14.211; Andr 142, Blmner1 173.
295 NIL MIHI RESPONDES Mart. 5.61.7, 6.5.3, 10.41.4.
CALCEM The Romans kicked with the heel as their sandals (on 6.612) did not
protect the toe; cf. calcare 248, 10.86.
296 UBI CONSISTAS where you have your stand as a beggar.
PROSEUCHA Synagogue (cf. CIL 6.9821 = CIJ 531, KittelFriedrich
808, Smallwood 133, Svennung 521); QUA because there were a number at Rome
(S. Safrai and M. Stern The Jewish People in the First Century 1, 1974, 166, SG 3.178
= 3.209210, Leon 139 sqq.). To Umbricius, who loathes immigrants, this would
be a terrible insult. For Jewish beggars cf. on 16 and 6.543; for the association of
beggars and synagogues cf. Artemidorus 3.52, Cleomedes 2.1.91. In fact the Jews
attached much importance to charity (Joseph. Contra Apion. 2.283, 291), and Ju-

SATIRE three163

lian the Apostate praises them for the absence of beggary (Ep. 84 BidezCumont
430d).
QUAERO The meaning would be more explicitly conveyed by a deliberative
subjunctive; on 4.130.
297 SI VE This seems not to be found elsewhere in this sense; cf. sive vel
11.28 (HS 670). Schrader proposed seu.
298 PARITER In both cases.
VADIMONIA FACIUNT This phrase used only to be known with the plaintiff
as subject, binding over the defendant to appear in court, and it had then to be
assumed that here the assailant represented himself as the victim; at Quintil. 6.3.83
an assailant threatens to prosecute for hurting his hand on his victims hard head.
This may still be right, but the phrase is now known with the defendant as subject
from wax tablets from Herculaneum; V. Arangio-Ruiz Parola del Passato 3, 1948,
138 = Studi Epigr. e Papirologici (1974) 334, Tomulescu Rev. Int. des Droits de lAntiquit 17, 1970, 31922, Ferrari Labeo 4, 1958, 184.
There is a remarkable shift from the singular to the plural, cf. on 308, 1.137,
6.365.
300 PUGNIS CONCISUS Cic. 2 Verr. 3.56, Hor. Serm. 1.2.66.
PULSATUS REVERTI Cf. 16.810.
PAUCIS A few at least, if not all.
302 NEC METUAS Cf. on 276 and 8.188. HAEC TANTUM Not just assault,
but robbery and even (305) assassination; cf. on 10.22.
NON DERIT QUI Cf. 9.112.
SPOLIET Cf. El. Maec. 29, Tib. 1.2.256, Cic. De Fato 34.
3034 The doors are chained and the shutters closed; the tabernae are part of
the domus, cf. on 6.415. The style is remarkably elevated. |[193]
305 For the footpads of Rome cf. CIL 6.5302 (= CEL 1037) and 20307, 3.14588,
Callistratus Dig. 48.19.28.10, Juv. 14.174; SG 1.20 = 1.22, Poehlmann 534.
306 ARMATO CUSTODE Instrumental ablative (on 1.13) and collective singular, often combined (9.150, Verg. Aen. 1.564 fines custode tueri).
The Pomptine marshes (cf. on 10.201) and the Gallinarian pine-forest (in the
West of Campania, between the river Vulturnus and Cumae; known as Pineta
since the Middle Ages) were dens of robbers because of their sparse population
and provision of concealment; Sex. Pompeius gathered pirates in the latter (Strabo 5.4.4.243), and robber-barrons visited Scipio at near-by Liternum (Val. Max.
2.10.2). The Appian Way passed by the Pomptine marshes, where Nerva and
Trajan carried out extensive works on it (RE suppl. 8.1202; Dio Cass. 68.15.3, A.D.
106). From time to time military posts were established to subdue brigands (O.
Hirschfeld Kl. Schr. 591), but clearly they had no permanent effect; cf. H. Bellen
Studien zur Sklavenflucht (1971) 95 and 104.
PINUS Collective cf. KS 1.6970, Svennung 169 and on 15.76.

164A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

308 SIC TAMQUAM 6.431.

OMNES sc. grassatores; for the shift to the plural cf. on 298.
VIVARIA Their game-preserves; 4.51.
309 NON For the order cf. Verg. Aen. 6.92, Stat. Silv. 2.1.128 (see
BICS 13, 1966, 98), Cic. De Domo 53. For the separation of GRAVES CATENAE
between clauses see on 11.140.
310 14.276 shows a similar exaggeration.
TIMEAS Because of the indefinite second person, this would still be subjunctive even without the UT; cf. 3.7, 1.18, KS 1.179.
311 For these implements cf. 15.1667, with a similar variation in number.
312 FELICIA SAECULA QUAE Cf. 2.38. PROAVORUM ATAVOS This happy
time was long ago.
313 The tribuni militares consulari potestate occasionally appointed in the early
Republic.
314 UNO Even the good old days could not entirely dispense with prisons.
This one is the carcer Mamertinus with the Tullianum built by Ancus Marcius and
Servius Tullius. In Juvenals day the castra praetoria also had a prison, 6.561. The
Lautumiae occasionally mentioned as a prison (Sen. Contr. 9.4 (27).21 and Livy)
seems to have been part of the complex to which the Mamertinus belonged (Varro LL 5.151). Cf. M. Grant The Roman Forum (1970) 127, le Gall Ml. dArchol. et
dHistoire, cole Fr. de Rome 56, 1939, 76, Eisenhut ANRW 1.2 (1972) 2756. Prison
at Rome was only a place of detention until |[194] the next legal step was taken, not
a penalty in itself (though see RAC Gefangenschaft 330).
315 POTERAM Cf. KS 1.1703, HS 328.
CAUSAS sc. migrandi.
317 VIRGA ANNUIT To attract his attention; cf. 8.153 (slightly different), Cic.
Lucull. 147 quoniam non solum nauta significat sed etiam Favonius ipse insusurrat
navigandi nobis tempus esse est mihi perorandum.
318 VALE NOSTRI MEMOR A phrase of farewell, Sappho 94.7 (D. L. Page
Sappho and Alcaeus (1955) 75), Hor. Odes 3.27.14, Ovid Her. 11.125, Am. 2.11.37,
Lygdamus 5.31.
319 Hor. Epist. 1.18.104 reficit gelidus Digentia rivus (cf. 322); Praeneste too is
cool (190), whereas Cumae is warm, cf. 4.
320 HELVINAM Presumably the temple was built by a Helvius; for this gens
in these parts cf. CIL 10 index p. 1039. For the association of a deity with a particular family cf. Nock 41 = JHS 45, 1925, 91; Wissowa 33 and 302 n. 10. For surviving
traces of these cults in modern Aquinum see Highet 234 n. 3 fin.; both Ceres and
Diana are country-side goddesses.
VESTRAM Aquinatium; or Juniorum (Juvenals gens)? Cf. CIL 10.5671 (from
Rocca dArce).
321 NI PUDET ILLAS They might desire a more refined audience, not wearing

SATIRE three165

caligae. The pronoun probably refers to the satires, not to Ceres and Diana.
322 Lucan 1.382 Hesperios audax veniam metator in agros; for AUDITOR cf. 1.1.
CALIGATUS With thick boots, a countrymans wear (Blmner1 226; Edict of
Diocletian 9.5a caligae mulionicae sive rusticae). Thus Umbricius divorce from
city life is reinforced at the conclusion; he is not willing to visit Juvenal in Rome.

[195]

Satire Four

This satire appears to fall into two parts. The first attacks Crispinus and ends by introducing (2833) for purposes of comparison the emperor Domitian, who, after
three transitional lines (346) to set the tone, occupies the rest of the poem. The
best way to appreciate the structural framework is to begin with discussion of the
nature of this second part.
Valla on 94 quotes, certainly from Probus, four lines from a lost poem by Statius which he calls De Bello Germanico:
lumina; Nestorei mitis prudentia Crispi
et Fabius Veiento (potentem signat utrumque
purpura, ter memores implerunt nomine fastos)
et prope Caesareae confinis Acilius aulae.

In this quotation lumina, which has lost its context, may either mean luminaries
or be part of a reference to the blind Catullus (11322). Fabius is not the nomen of
Veiento (and therefore Jahn altered et Fabius to Fabricius), but means, as Bche
ler saw (Rh. Mus. 38, 1884, 283 = Kl. Schr. 3.12), that he was another Q. Fabius
Maximus (cf. Nestorei), as prudent (113) as the famous Cunctator. This poem was
probably that recited (Silv. 4.2.656) by Statius when he won the prize at the Alban
agon of Domitian, very likely in A.D. 90. That poem described not only Germanas
acies but also Domitians Dacian campaign; in view of what is said below about
the dramatic date of Juvenals poem the Germanae acies probably included the
campaign of 83 as well as that of 89 A.D. If the identification is correct De Bello
Germanico cannot be the exact title.
The fragment obviously describes the attendance at a council of war. Juvenal
too describes a meeting of Domitians cabinet with the same members (and others
perhaps also mentioned by Statius) present, and in closely similar wording. At
least from 72 onwards the satire is without doubt based on parody of Statius, a
poet in whom Juvenal was interested (see on 7.83). Juvenal has hinted as much to
the reader in 147 (for another such hint see on 2.92), where he says that Domitian
166

SATIRE four167

might have |[196] been expected to have news about the Chatti and the Sygambri.
Why he mentions the latter is not clear (see the notes), but the former were the
tribe against which Domitians German expeditions were mainly directed. The
military context also accounts for the reference to castra in 135 (see note) and the
martial allusion in 1248.
The tone is set for the mock epic by 335. First Calliope, the epic Muse, is invoked (cf. Stat. Th. 10.62830 nunc age quis stimulos addiderit iuveni memor
incipe Clio) and invited to begin her song. This she would naturally do standing in
a formal pose (Ovid Met. 5.3389 surgit Calliope to sing of the rape of Proserpina; Lucian Icaromenippus 27 ). But Juvenal assures her
that she can continue to sit; this is not poetry to be sung (cantandum), but history
(res vera) to be related. The mock epic is also foreshadowed in 1617 (see the note).
The subject of the weighty deliberations of the cabinet is what to do about a
fish which has been presented to the emperor, but is too big for any available dish.
We thus have a typically burlesque contrast between the trivial subject of debate
on the one hand and on the other the elevated literary style (see the notes passim)
and the formal procedure (130 and 136) of the cabinet; this poem is in fact an important historical source for the Roman cabinet (see Crook2 501). The first part
of the poem attacking Crispinus also comes to a climax with a large fish (15 sqq.);
the gluttony of Crispinus may be measured by the price which he paid for it. This
instance of extravagant gluttony however is one of the facta leviora (11) of Crispinus, just as the culinary deliberations of Domitian are his nugae (150); in each case
a contrast is drawn with their worse aspects, so that we have a chiastic scheme
crimes of C., follies of C.; follies of D., crimes of D. The first part, in short, directly
states the theme, the corruption of Domitians court (Crispinus is mentioned as
one of his councillors in 108; see below) through luxuria (127, 13943) and adulatio (31), the second for the most part insinuates it obliquely through the medium of literary parody, though from time to time Juvenal drops the mask of epic
impersonality to introduce savage comments of his own (the first person singular
140), and he ends the poem in his own person (1504), re-emphasising the saevitia
which he had commented |[197] on in 85 and 95. Crispinus thus pre-figures Domitian and represents his court; the two are sharply juxtaposed in 2833 (note the a
fortiori formulation and the tunc cum contrast), and their close connection is
already made plain in 1114, where Domitian is first introduced. Crispinus familiarity with Domitian, stated in these lines, is also made prominent by comparison
of emit 15 with quis talem emere auderet (other than Crispinus!) 467. One
notes also that neither C.s facta leviora nor D.s nugae arise from obvious causes
(1822, 1479).
The method of literary parody here employed by Juvenal was introduced into
Roman satire by Lucilius, who in Book 1 of his Satires represented the gods deliberating (fr. 4 consilium summis hominum de rebus agebant) about the death of L.

168A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Cornelius Lentulus Lupus. The discussion was apparently carried on in the forms
of a meeting of the Roman senate (Servius on Aen. 10.104 = fr. 3; note the domum
deductio at the end of the Vergilian meeting, Aen. 10.117, which Servius says is
imitated from Lucilius) with formal conventional speeches (fr. 26 and 27). It was
evidently basically a parody of the concilium in the Annals of Ennius in which
the gods decided on the deification of Romulus, and Lucilius refers to this as the
antiquum (fr. 30) or prius concilium (fr. 27); resemblances between Lucilius and
Vergil (fr. 4 and Aen. 9.227; Aen. 10 l.c.) are probably due to common derivation
from Ennius. Note too Lucilius use of an epic (i.e. Ennian) tag fr. 18 haec ubi dicta
dedit, <fecit> pausam ore loquendi. Lupus, who may even, like the Licinii Murenae
and the Sergii Oratae, have derived his cognomen from the fish lupus rather than
the animal, was apparently a gourmet fond of fish (fr. 49 and 54); such fondness
for fish was a traditional topic of abuse (Plut. Quaest. Symp. 4.4.668a). Juvenal,
who has much in common with Lucilius (see p. 9), very likely had the Lucilian
concilium in mind when he wrote this satire.
Senecas Apocolocyntosis in Menippean form is on similar lines to Lucilius I;
Menippus, who appears to have parodied Homeric councils, evidently gave to
Lucilius the idea of a mock-epic council. Though this work of Seneca was little
known or read in antiquity (knowledge of it is shown only by Dio Cassius, Ausonius and perhaps the emperor Julian), there are a few hints that Juvenal, who
likewise abuses a dead emperor |[198], may have been familiar with it (see on 1617,
568 and 5.54). There is a point of contact in Juvenals phrase res vera agitur (35) as
compared with Senecas haec ita vera (1.1). By this Seneca, who throughout mockingly insists on his historical accuracy, means to assert that he is writing an
, but Lucians work of similar title (describing a journey to the moon!)
shows how we are to understand that, and Juvenal too. It is true that Domitian
was capable of a macabre practical joke (Dio Cass. 67.9) and that emperors were
known to play such tricks on their cabinet (Crook2 29). But Juvenal has combined
several easily recognisable elements into his narrative. First, it was traditional to
make presents of large fish to monarchs; Mart. 13.91 ad Palatinas acipensem mittite mensas; / ambrosias ornant munera rara dapes. There are two such stories
about Tiberius, who was easily associated with Domitian as another cruel despot
(it is well known how Tacitus portrait of Tiberius has apparently been influenced
by his experience of Domitian, and according to Suet. Dom. 20 Domitian studied
the acta and commentarii of Tiberius). One narrates the presentation of a grandis
mullus to the emperor at Capri by the fisherman who had caught it (Suet. Tib. 60);
the other, that when a 4 lb. mullet was bought and sent as a present to Tiberius,
he put it up for sale and it was bought by Octavius, out-bidding Apicius (cf. 23),
for 5,000 sesterces (Sen. Ep. 95.42). Seneca remarks that it was disgraceful for Octavius to buy it in order to eat it, but not for the unnamed first purchaser to buy it
in order to present it to the emperor (cf. Juv. 1822), notes how the same act can

SATIRE four169

be judged differently in different circumstances (cf. Juv. 1314), and declares that
an expensive meal for ones own benefit deserves the nota censoria (cf. Juv. 12);
Juvenal certainly has this actual passage in mind. Secondly, Vitellius was abused
as patinarius (Suet. Vitell. 17.2) for having had a special kiln built to produce an
enormous dish (Pliny NH 35.1634; Dio Cass. 65.3.3 wrongly says that it was of
silver because it was too big to be made of pottery; Suet. 13.2 names the ingredients
which filled it).
The dramatic date is before A.D. 856 (see on 111); if we may assume the same
of the council in the Statian original, that will have referred to the German war
of A.D. 83. So we may put the dramatic date of Juvenals poem more exactly in
autumn |[199] 82 (some scholars, forgetting that it is autumn, have put it in 83).
The question arises of the exact meaning of what Statius says about Crispus and
Veiento. The third consulship was the most to which a privatus might aspire under the empire (Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 2.1.2, Jones AJP 94, 1973, 81 n. 15).
Does Statius then mean, as his wording prima facie certainly seems to imply, that
Crispus and Fabricius held office simultaneously as a pair of coss. III? This would
be historically improbable, and in fact a diploma (CIL 16.28 = ILS 1995) names the
consuls of September 82 as L. Marcius Magnus Silo and T. Aurelius Quietus; the
hypothesis has been put forward that this pair in fact belongs to 83 (A. Degrassi
I Fasti Consolari (1952) 24 and Inscr. Italiae 13.1 pp. 2201; PIR2 L100), but it does
seem rather gratuitous (Evans Historia 24, 1975, 122). I think that Statius must
simply be alluding to their distinction without intending to fix it in time (cf. RE
Vibius 1970.21 and 6.1940.39; W. Eck Senatoren von Vespasian bis Hadrian (1970)
61), though in fact their third consulships probably were in 823 (Syme JRS 43,
1953, 155).
Since the dramatic date is right at the beginning of Domitians reign, his depiction as already a fierce tyrant is somewhat anachronistic (cf. on 478); his savage
temper was not fully revealed until after the rebellion of Saturninus in A.D. 89
(Suet. 10.5, Dio Cass. 67.11.2). But of course Juvenal must not have the standards
of historical accuracy applied to him; his interest lies in using the conventional themes of the tyrants wretched friends and extravagant banquets (cf. Pliny
referred to on 2831) as a basis for his fervent declamation. He mocks this stock
theme of the rhetorical schools at 7.151 (cf. Sidon. Apoll. Ep. 8.11.3.289 tyrannicarum / declamatio controversiarum; Dunkle CW 65, 1971, 12, Deratani Rev. Phil.
55, 1929, 187, Gudemans commentary on Tac. Dial. p. 463, MacMullen1 356),
but himself refers to the conventional tyrant at 10.11213 and 3067 (cf. e.g. Sen.
Contr. 9.4); according to Dio Cass. 67.12.5 Domitian ,
, .
Some scholars have argued that the two parts of the poem were originally separate, on two grounds. First, that the introduction of Crispinus in 108 is inopportune and surprisingly phrased if he had already been mentioned in the first line of

170A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

the |[200] same poem. I cannot see any force in the latter objection, and the former
will have been excused by historical fact and presumably his presence in Statius. It
is surprising that Crispinus gluttony is not mentioned here and Montanus takes
over the role of gourmet (107, 136 sqq.); this may be because Juvenal wants to
direct our minds back to the days of Nero (38, 137) and Vitellius, when Crispinus
will not have been at court. The second ground relates to iterum in 1. The only
other mention of Crispinus in Juvenal (who failed to fulfil his anticipation that
he would often mention him) is at 1.26, and (so it is claimed) the prefatory poem
would have been written after the other poems of the book; the reference therefore of iterum to a poem allegedly written later than the main body of this satire
would indicate that the Crispinus-part of this poem was a last-minute addition.
This house of cards collapses when it is recognised that we have no grounds at all
for dating poem One later than Four; though it is true that prefatory poems were
often written last, it is quite unjustifiable to assume it as a matter of course in all
cases. At any rate it must be admitted that if the two parts did not originally form
a unitary composition, Juvenal has taken immense care to interweave them by
thematic connections; the degree of his success is a matter for individual aesthetic
judgment.
This poem is discussed by Griffith G & R2 16, 1969, 134.
1 ECCE ITERUM See for the combination Thes. ecce 31.81; e.g. Stat. Th. 12.429
e.i. fratres, CEL 1552 B (= CIL 8.213) 3 ecce Secundus adest iterum. On ITERUM and
SAEPE see introduction.
12 VOCANDUS AD PARTES A theatrical metaphor; C. is called to take his
cue. So Varro RR 2.10.1, Sen. Phoen. 351.
23 More usual would be nulla virtute vitia redimens (cf. Sen. Contr. 4 pr. 11
redimebat vitia virtutibus); Ovid Met. 12.393 nec te tua forma redemit is comparable.
FORTES healthy is the antithesis of AEGRAE, Tac. Dial. 23.4; Crispinus
health has been ruined by vice. At 6.O.25 in lecto fortissimus the word has a different antithesis, but that passage and this are not to be kept too strictly apart; cf. Sen.
Contr. 1 pr. 10 istis nunquam nisi in libidine viris, Macrob. Sat. 2.1.3 Alcibiadi,
qui tantum fuit fortis ad crimina.
4 DELICIAE dandy; so Pliny NH 22.99 and probably Mart. 8.48.6 nec nisi
deliciis (the dandy Crispinus) convenit iste color (purple, |[201] cf. Juv. 31), though
it might mean luxury there (but see Housman on Lucan 10.478).
VIDUAS (unmarried women) ADULTER Technically this would be
stuprum, not adulterium, but even the law used the latter word in a non-technical
sense (Papinian Dig. 48.5.6.1, Modestinus ibid. 50.16.1). Crispinus is attracted by
the spice of danger; cf. 9.116, Sen. Ep. 97.11, De Ben. 3.16.3 and other passages quoted by Citroni in his introduction to Mart. 1.57.

SATIRE four171

ASPERNATUS See the apparatus. At Colum. 8.5.23 the mss. vary between aspernor and spernor, and at Fronto p. 136.6 the palimpsest presents spernor; but
even if it is right there, the word cannot be justified in a classical writer by such an
eccentric stylist.
56 IUMENTA PORTICIBUS Cf. 7.17880, Mart. 1.12.58, SHA 26.49.2
miliarensem porticum in hortis Sallusti ornavit in qua cotidie et equos et se fatigabat. IUMENTA, a rural word rare in poetry outside Juvenal (Thes. s.v. 645.75),
who has it seven times, means mules at 3.316 (cf. 317), 7.180, 8.154 (cf. 148), as
commonly; cf. on 7.181.
NEMORUM UMBRA See on 39.
VECTETUR Perhaps understand equo; this clause will then in sense repeat
that which precedes, and the place meant will be the hippodromus (cf. Pliny Ep.
5.6.19 hippodromi nemus; Pliny himself used his hippodromus for walking, but
not everybody did, see Sherwin-White on 5.6.32). Alternatively, and preferably,
understand lectica (6.577 and Apul. Apol. 76); the reference then will be to the
gestatio (Pliny Ep. 2.17.14, 5.6.17), and there will be the special point that doctors
recommended promenades in a litter for the sick (aegrae 3), cf. Pliny NH 26.1314
with the note of ErnoutPpin p. 80; Cael. Aurel. Chron. 1.1.1819 (where this is
called vectatio), RE lectica 1088. On gestatio and hippodromus see Blmner1 86,
Grimal 26573.
7 VICINA FORO This agrees with QUAS AEDES (what house, singular)
also. Land near the centre of large cities is always expensive (Poehlmann 87, Duncan-Jones PBSR 33, 1965, 224); the site for Julius Caesars forum cost 100 million
sesterces (Suet. Iul. 26.2, Pliny NH 36.103; Cic. Ad Att. 4.16.8 mentions 60 million).
8 This line is absolutely in place, indeed necessary, and there is no warrant
for deleting it with Jahn (which leaves 9 intolerably abrupt) or emending it with
Housman (whose conjecture, as he admitted in ed. 2, is based on a misunderstanding of the scholia). The only reproach brought against the line by Housman
is that the connection of thought is abrupt (prave abrupta atque dissoluta continu
atione sententiarum), but this is not so. 14 Crispinus is vicious, 57 so his riches
dont matter, 8 for no wicked man, even if rich, is fortunate, and Crispinus, who is
burdened by not only adultery (corruptor |[202] referring back to 4 viduas tantum
aspernatus adulter, cf. 6.233; the verbal noun in -tor, as commonly, implies that he
is a seducer by habit), but also sacrilege (incestus; see below), is the most unenviable of all. For the sequence of thought after quid refert with a following asyndetic
sentence cf. 8.1924 (7 should now end with a question mark and 10 with a full
stop), for ET IDEM 3.291, for the general thought e.g. Philo De Prov. 7 (vol. 9 p.
462 in the Loeb ed.)
, .
910 The condemnation on a charge of incestum of the Vestal Cornelia by
Domitian in A.D. 93 is described by Pliny Ep. 4.11 (see Sherwin-White) and Suet.

172A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Dom. 8 (see Mooney). The paramour named was an eques called Celer, and among
others Valerius Licinianus was involved. Suetonius says that Cornelia was absoluta olim, dein longo intervallo repetita; her earlier trial was presumably at the time
of the condemnation of three other Vestals (who however were not buried alive)
in A.D. 834. Crispinus can hardly have been involved in the earlier trial, for in A.D.
92 he was still in favour with Domitian (Mart. 7.99); and since in 93 Martial can
still pull his leg (8.48), to suppose that he was one of those not named by Suetonius
executed in that year is chronologically uncomfortable. It is most probable that he
was linked with Cornelia only by gossip.
Some have understood the reference to be to rumours linking Crispinus with
another unknown Vestal, and interpreted SUBITURA to mean who (if discovered) would have been buried alive. Such conditional uses of the future participle
are common in Silver Latin (KS 1.761, HS 390 and 644, Woodcock p. 155), but it
would be very harsh here, where, unlike 5.32 and 6.277, there is no hint of a protasis; 6.44 (q.v.) is probably not a valid parallel.
On the incestum involved in the seduction of a Vestal and the punishment of
burial alive see Latte 49, 110 (cf. 108 n. 4), 195; ML Vesta 2601; RE incestus 12467,
Vesta 1747; RSV 3.342; Frazer on Ovid Fasti 6.45760; Mommsen2 928.
VITTATA SACERDOS is from Lucan 1.597. The epithet reinforces the horror
of Crispinus act (cf. Stat. Th. 7.758 conatusque toris vittatam attingere Manto); the
vittae (on which see RSV 3.340, DS Vestalis 759b, Ovid l.c.) were torn from the
head of errant Vestals before their incarceration (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 8.89.5, cf.
Sen. Contr. 1.3.6).
SANGUINE VIVO Ovid Met. 5.436, Lucan 6.554, Stat. Th. 5.162, 8.761.
11 FACTIS The plural although only one is mentioned; cf. ista 9.73 and on 9.118.
ET TAMEN PERSONA EST 15 should be enclosed in |[203] parenthesis and this
followed by a colon to make plain that MULLUM EMIT explains FACTIS.
12 FECISSET IDEM sc. factum levius, had been guilty of the same (see on
6.638).
CADERET SUB Cf. 10.69 (7.13 is also comparable), Suet. Otho 5.1; he would
have had the nota censoria affixed to him. For CADERET rather than cecidisset
see on 85.
IUDICE MORUM i.e. censore; one speaks informally of a iudicium censorum
(Mommsen2 2.386, Greenidge 51, RE mores 297, DE censor 1645). Domitian had
himself named censor perpetuus in A.D. 85 (RE 6.2561, Gsell 54 and 83, DE Domitianus 2038b, Buttrey CJ 71, 1975, 26) and took the moral functions of the office
seriously (cf. 2.301 and Suet. 8 with Mooney). Sumptuary observances were the
particular province of the censors (cf. 9.142, Sen. Ep. 95.41, RE sumptus 903.38, E.
Schmhling Die Sittenaufsicht der Censoren (1938) 58 and 131, I. Sauerwein Die
Leges Sumptuariae (1970) 2635), whereas the supervision of the morals of the
Vestals lay with the pontifex maximus (Pliny Ep. 4.11.6 and other references as

SATIRE four173

above); but in this case the censor turns out to be as luxurious as anybody.
1314 Cf. 8.1812, 11.1768. TITIO SEIOQUE are names used by jurists in giving concrete examples, hence the man in the street, John Doe and Richard Roe.
In full C. Seius and L. Titius, Plut. Quaest. Rom. 30 (see Rose and correct his reference to Tert. Apol. 1.4 to Ad Nat. 1.4.8), Tert. Apol. 3.1; RE Seius 1120.53, Titius no.
10; Lancel in Hommages Jean Bayet (1964) 355.
NAM As if Juvenal had said nam turpe foret Titio quod decebat Crispinum; or
perhaps <Crispinus non cecidit> nam
QUIS AGAS CUM 3.291.
FOEDIOR OMNI CRIMINE too disgraceful for any accusation, cf. on 66 and
8.209.
PERSONA Simply person, a rare usage; the nearest approach in classical Latin seems to be Cic. Pro Cael. 30 sunt duo crimina in quibus una atque eadem
persona versatur; cf. Val. Max. 6.2.5 huic facto persona (the author) admirationem
adimit. See OLD (5) and Lewis and Short (II B 2) s.v., KrebsSchmalz 2.286.
15 MULLUM The red mullet, a fish greatly valued by Roman gourmets, cf.
5.928, 11.37, Galen De Alim. Fac. 3.26 (CMG 5.4.2.365), Blmner1 1823, Marquardt 434, RE mullus 499, Prchac REL 14, 1936, 1025, Andrews CW 42, 19489,
186. Fantastic prices were paid for them; Suet. Tib. 34.1, Pliny NH 9.67 (see the
notes of de Saint-Denis pp. 11820 on the surrounding passage, which deals with
mullets generally; from Pliny probably derive Macrob. Sat. 3.16.9, Tert. De Pallio
5, though their figures differ). Pliny l.c. 64 |[204] says that the fish rarely exceeded 2
lbs in weight, Martial 14.97 that it was valued according to its size and 2 lbs was the
minimum (he finds this acceptable 3.45.5, 11.50.9; but at 10.37.78 one of less than
3 is thrown back). Horace Serm. 2.2.33 mentions one of 3 lbs, Mart. 10.31.3 one of
4 (costing according to different mss. nummis mille ducentis or trecentis; Kbler
in Festschrift J. Vahlen (1900) 567 is probably right to understand denariis = 4800
or 5200 sesterces), Sen. Ep. 95.42 (see introduction) one of 4 for 5000 sesterces.
This one weighed 6 lbs; Thompson2 266 says that one of this size can hardly have
been a real mullet.
1617 Juvenal expresses the weight of the fish by a periphrasis (cf. 10.126) which
recalls the Ovidian and Manilian technique of numerical circumlocution (cf. also
Stat. Silv. 2.1.124 Herculeos annis aequare labores, i.e. the boy was in his twelfth
year); then in 17 he makes plain (with the mainly poetical word perhibent, which
he does not use elsewhere; cf. Lyne on Ciris 56 and 77) his mock-epic intent (qui
loquuntur is a thrust at poetical bombast). All this is rather similar to Sen. Apoc. 2
(see introduction and on 568). Archestratus (p. 147 Brandt Corpusc. Poesis Epicae
Graecae Ludibundae 1, 1888) ap. Athen. 7.305e speaks of a fish as .
1819 The mullet, like expensive fish generally, was often given as a present by
captatores; 5.928, 6.3840, Mart. 2.40.4. LAUDO is similarly ironical at 12.121, ARTIFICIS (cf. 14.116) at 10.238 (see Thes. s.v. 701.12). For ORBI see on 3.128 and 12.99.

174A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

19 Roman wills were written out on the common writing material of waxed
tablets (codex 10.236 or tabulae; RE Testament 996), each page of which was a cera
(Blmner1 468 n. 2, Marquardt 805). PRAECIPUAM is probably an allusion to
the legal sense of the word (Lewis and Short I B, OLD 1b; cf. praecipio, praeceptio)
applied to a legacy which was the first charge on an estate before distribution of
the remainder; e.g. Suet. Galba 5.2, Sidon. Apoll. Ep. 6.12.5.
20 MAGNAE AMICAE Cf. on 1.33; her magnitudo explains how she could
afford a large litter, cf. Dio Cass. 57.15.4 ,
.
CLUSO Cf. 1.124 and on 1.64; see Blmner1 4456, RE lectica 10913, Marquardt
7368.
SPECULARIBUS Cf. 3.242, RE ibid. 1066.4; probably covered with lapis specularis (talc, mica or selenite), on which see Blmner1 103, Marquardt 757, RE fenestra 21845, DS lapides 934 and fenestra 1039, K. C. Bailey (on 2.945) on Pliny NH
36.130.
ANTRO It was apparently a point of rivalry in Roman society to have a laxa
sella, Sen. Dial. 2.14.1.
22 EXPECTES See on 1.14. |[205]
23 Apicius was the proverbial (Otto s.v.; cf. 11.3) gourmet, but Juvenal probably has in mind the particular incident reported by Seneca and discussed in the
introduction.
235 HOC TU sc. fecisti; HOC PRETIO SQUAMAE sc. emptae sunt. For the
ellipse cf. 1.889. The anaphora would suggest that the two questions ought to be
parallel in construction, i.e. that tu ought to remain the subject of the second (sc.
emisti); but squamas, the conjecture of L. Dorlans (in his edition of Tac. Ann.
(1622) p. 762), receives no support from the scholia (see BICS 14, 1967, 42), as used
to be thought. It may of course still be right; it could have been turned into a genitive singular to depend on PRETIO, though this reading does not so obviously
require a genitive as the interpolated pretium.
PAPYRO For papyrus fabrics cf. Theophr. Hist. Pl. 4.8.4 (the source of Pliny
NH 13.72); Anacreontea 32.4 / /
means a papyrus cord. The picture of Crispinus wearing a
papyrus apron is meant to sound outlandish and ridiculous to Roman ears.
SUCCINCTUS Crispinus cannot have bought the fish when he was formerly
girt in his papyrus apron, so this word cannot go with the understood fecisti. We
must therefore punctuate thus: hoc tu, succinctus patria quondam Crispine papyro? Strict grammar would then require succincte (cf. 6.277), but it is obvious that
in many such cases the boundary between nominative and vocative is hard to fix,
and the Romans did not always apply close logic; cf. Lfstedt 12 96102, J. Svennung Anredeformen (1958) 269, C. F. W. Mller (on 2.3) 3, KH 448.
The point of the word is that in Egypt he performed menial tasks; cf. 8.162,

SATIRE four175

Anacreontea l.c., Dio Chrys. 72 ( ) 2 , DS cingulum 1177b n. 50. The ablative indicates the nature of the garment (cf. Suet. Cal.
26.2 succinctus linteo etc.), the participle the fact that it is girt up.
25 SQUAMAE Contemptuous = fish.
256 The joke is like Pliny NH 9.67 nunc pretiis parantur coquorum
pisces; Martials Calliodorus (10.31) sold a slave for 4800 or 5200 sesterces (see on
15) and bought a 4 lb mullet. On slave-prices see Duncan-Jones 34850 (who takes
Martial to mean 1200 or 1300 sesterces and in Pliny l.c. adopts without warning a
conjecture which gives too low a price for a cook); Columella gives 60008000 as
the price of a skilled vine-dresser. Slaves were extensively employed in the fishing
industry.
267 PROVINCIA The provinces as opposed to Italy; cf. 5.97 for this collective
singular. Cf. Musonius Rufus p. 104.2 Hense
. |[206]
SED and indeed cf. 5.147 and on 14.117; the use is as old as Plautus (KS 2.767,
HS 487, Friedlaender on Mart. 1.117.7). Here Juvenal has in mind Ovid Met. 8.282
3 (of the Calydonian boar), which however does not show this use of sed:
misit aprum, quanto maiores herbida tauros
non habet Epirus, sed habent Sicula arva minores.
MAIORES APULIA VENDIT sc. tantidem. Apulia was an improverished district in which there was little cultivation for crops; it was mostly given over to
large-scale ranching (whence the wool of Canusium 6.150, etc.), so land was cheap
there (9.545, Sen. Ep. 87.7). See Yeo TAPA 79, 1948, 295, Sirago 220, A. J. Toynbee
Hannibals Legacy (1965) 2.239 and 565, White1 73 and 83.
2831 An argument a fortiori.
PUTAMUS conveys the sense more explicitly given by a deliberative subjunctive (see on 130). In fact in this particular case the indicative is usual and putemus
rare (e.g. Cic. Orator 74); it is significant that when Pliny Ep. 4.25.3 recalls Catullus
22.12 putemus (cf. 97.11), he instinctively slips into putamus. Arbitramur is also
quite common.
GLUTTISSE INDUPERATOREM gluttire is a word which, even if not onomatopoeic in origin (see WaldeHofmann s.v.), is certainly undignified and totally foreign to elevated style. This is ironically contrasted with the solemn INDU
PERATOREM, gross gluttony (which in fact Suet. 21 denies in Domitian, though
the prejudiced Pliny Pan. 49 affirms it) as opposed to heroic ideals (dux magnus
145). Dactylic verse could not incorporate mprtor, so induperator was coined
by Ennius, using the archaic form (indu) of in, and was then adopted by Lucretius;
Juvenal uses it again at 10.138 (his other striking morphological archaisms are at
1.169 and 15.157). Perhaps it also foreshadows the coming epic burlesque. With
RUCTARIT (cf. 3.107, 6.10 and Pliny Pan. l.c. plenus ipse <et> eructans) he returns
to the level of GLUTTISSE, but again with an ironical stylistic contrast, this time

176A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

to the artistic literary form of the golden line, on which see L. P. Wilkinson Golden Latin Artistry (1963) 215, Norden Aeneid 623 p. 393. The u-sounds of 31 mirror
belching.
2930 PARTEM CENAE Whereas the mullet of Calliodorus (Mart. 10.31)
was cenae pompa caputque.
31 On the fondness of Crispinus for purple clothes see 1.27 and Mart. 8.48. His
position as an associate of Domitian is indicated by Mart. 7.99, but Juvenal contemptuously down-grades him to a scurra (cf. 8.190, 13.111), a position for which
the typical Egyptian impudence (Stat. Silv. 5.5.66 sqq. etc.) would qualify him; for
imperial scurrae see on 5.34. |[207]
32 PRINCEPS EQUITUM is not an official title and probably has no special
significance (cf. equestris ordinis princeps Cic. Ad Fam. 11.6.2, Pliny Ep. 1.14.5 and
in the plural Cic. 2 Verr. 2.175; at Suet. Aug. 66.3 Maecenas is one of sui quisque
ordinis principes; cf. Stein 99101, Hellegouarch 4567). Some however have seen
more in this. Since, apart from the unidentified Pompeius, Fuscus (11112) and
Crispinus are the only equites who attend the consilium, and the other members
are not only senators but all apparently, except the younger Glabrio, consulars as
well, it is argued that, Fuscus being one of the two praefecti praetorio, Crispinus
was the other. Vell. Pat. 2.127.4 applies the phrase equestris ordinis princeps to
L. Seius Strabo, who was praefectus praetorio (though that is not relevant in the
context), and Fronto p. 157 describes Marcius Turbo, who also held the office, as
equestris ordinis primarius; the office is called summus equester gradus by Suet.
Galba 14.2 and equestre fastigium by Tac. Ann. 4.40.5 (cf. RE 22.2397). But (1) the
council at Alba mentioned on 145 has splendidi viri utriusque ordinis in attendance, (2) there is reason to suppose that Laberius Maximus became colleague
of Fuscus as praefectus in 84 or late 83, and that he was preceded by Julius Ursus
(PIR2 I 630, Syme1 635 and JRS 44, 1954, 117), (3) this Egyptian dandy does not
strike one as a potential praefectus praetorio. See White AJP 95, 1974, 377, McDermott Rivista Storica dell Antichit 8, 1978, 117.
Crispinus was probably a peregrinus in origin; there is no reason to suppose
that he was a freedman (as some have; see in particular the astonishing misunderstanding of 256 by Stein 117 n. 1). Doubtless he simply assumed this Roman
cognomen; cf. SG 4.567 (not in ed. 10), Cic. 2 Verr. 5.112, Philostr. Ep. Apollon.
72, CIL 8.22729; in the case of the Anauni Claudius had to justify retrospectively
their assumption of Roman names (CIL 5.5050 = ILS 206 = FIRA 1 no. 71; probably
however referring to gentilicia, cf. Suet. 25.3).
323 A stock topic of abuse, Plut. Quaest. Symp. 2.1.4.631d (whence Macrob.
Sat. 7.3.6); cf. DS salsamentum 1024b, Neil on Aristoph. Knights 12467.
SILUROS cf. 14.132. These were found in the Nile (Thompson2 2357; e.g. Pliny
NH 32.125, Geopon. 13.10.11) and were pickled at Alexandria (Athen. 3.88.118f,
Blmner3 14 and 17, Marquardt 436, Dumont Chron. dgypte 52 (103), 1977, 136,

SATIRE four177

F. X. J. Dlger 2 (1922) 149, Besta Aegyptus 2, 1921, 724); Crispinus may

have sold them there as a street-trader, though MUNICIPES has more point if he
sold them at Rome. They were a cheap fish (Blmner1 184 n. 11, Andr 110 n. 198),
and those sold by C. were of even lower quality, since their jars had been damaged
(fracto vaso sardarum ; cf. Pap. Oxyrr. vol. 42 no. 3007) and they had deteriorated. We |[208] must of course recognize that satiric distortion might have turned a
well-to-do fish-merchant into a street-trader (cf. on 10.130).
MAGNA VOCE The cries of street-traders echoed through ancient cities; see
Calp. Sic. 4.256, Blmner1 449 and the illustrations in DS mercator 1739 fig. 4921,
Bossert and Zschietzschmann 221.
MUNICIPES This word, like civis, bears the meaning of fellow townsman,
Thes. s.v. 1645.82. Its use of animals or, as 14.271, of things is humorous; the same
joke Mart. 10.87.10, 14.114.2.
346 See the introduction on these lines.
CONSIDERE A rhapsode would naturally stand, while for less impassioned
reading one would sit. Cf. on 7.152.
CANTANDUM VERA Similarly at Pers. 1.8891 nocte paratum and cantare
are contrasted with verum.
36 A poor joke; the Muses are as sensitive about their age (cf. 6.191) as any other
woman. Townend JRS 63, 1973, 154 attributes its poverty to an attempt to parody
something in Statius.
37 Cf. laceratus orbis Petron. 121.121; Domitian is compared to a wild beast by
Pliny Pan. 48.
38 Domitian went bald early (Suet. 18) and was sympathetic to Neros memory
(Pliny Pan. 53.4); Mart. 11.33 seems to refer to him outright as Nero (and perhaps
Tertull. De Pallio 4.5 = 6 as Subnero), and the Revelation of St John 17.11 is often
taken to mean that Nero is reincarnated in Domitian (see the commentaries and
C. Brtsch La Clart de lApocalypse (1966) 283, Harris Prudentia 11, 1979, 18).
39 INCIDIT Naegelsbach 90.3b understands in sinus from 41 with this and
says that it is the harshest such ellipse known to him; but incido occasionally takes
an accusative (Thes. s.v. 905.67; Lucr. 4.568 at least seems certain), and cf. Apul.
Apol. 33 quicumque piscis inciderit (though perhaps an indirect object is supplied from the piscatores and amici just mentioned).
HADRIACI S.A.R. A type of periphrasis typical of elevated style (KS 1.242, HS
152, Naegelsbach 74); (Herod. 1.36) and the like (KhnerGerth
Gramm. Gr. Spr. 1.280) are not quite the same. This mock-elevation is here combined with the form of a near-golden line; see on 31 and cf. 64, 68, 94, 112, 118, 132,
149. For other such periphrases cf. 6 nemorum umbra = nemoribus umbrosis and
on 81; index s.v. nouns.
RHOMBI Turbot (11.121), an expensive fish, cf. Blmner1 184. The best were
caught at Ravenna (Pliny NH 9.169), about 100 miles north of Ancona, and in

178A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

the Adriatic generally ([Ovid] Hal. 125). That is why Juvenal makes his fisherman
come from Ancona, ignoring the implausibility that he has to cross the Apennines
at the beginning of winter (56) to get to Alba (61), a distance of about 150 miles,
|[209] which under the most favourable conditions would require three days travel
on horse.
40 The temple of Venus at Ancona is mentioned also by Catullus 36.13; it was
on a hill, now Monte Guasco (where the modern cathedral incorporates some
of its columns), whence SUSTINET (Nissen 2.416; M. Moretti Ancona (1945) 58;
Stucchi Rm. Mitt. 72, 1965, 1458 and taf. 60). Venus is Aphrodite , and
appears on the coins of Ancona (British Museum Catalogue of Greek Coins, Italy
(1873) 40).
DOMUM The conception of a temple as the gods house (cf. Thes. s.v. 1970.17
and compare the use of aedes singular and plural; also habitare 1.114) is linked
with the anthropomorphic view of deity; it must be remembered that primitive
thought can equate the god with his statue (cf. on 13.115).
DORICA Ancona was colonised in the fourth century B.C. by Syracusan refugees from the tyranny of Dionysius I (Strabo 5.4.2.241a, Pliny NH 3.111).
41 MINOR sc. rhombus; Juvenal drops spatium, cf. 6.180.
ILLIS Aristotle Hist. An. 8.13.598b says that with certain exceptions there were
no large fish in the Black Sea, and Pliny NH 9.52 is alone in saying that turbots enter the Black Sea and spend the summer there; but cf. Encyclopedia Britannica ed.
11 s.v. Turbot The turbot is replaced in the Black Sea by an allied species with
much larger bony tubercles (Rhombus maeoticus).
42 Ovid Tristia 3.2.4950
vidimus in glacie pisces haerere ligatos,
sed pars ex illis tum quoque viva fuit.
Cf. Pliny NH 9.177 from Theophrastus (fr. 171.8), and similarly Strabo 7.3.18 of the
Sea of Azov. In general on the fish of the Sea of Azov and their migration to the
Bosporus see pseudo-Hipparchus in E. Maass Analecta Eratosthenica (1883) 147.
43 SOLIBUS sunny days; for the plural cf. KS 1.71, Lewis and Short s.v. II C.
TORRENTIS On the currents of the Black Sea see RE suppl. 9.932 and 1911. A
strong continuous current flows out of it into the Propontis; Lucr. 5.5068, Sen.
NQ 4.2.29, Lucan 3.277, Hipparchus fr. 67 Dicks.
OSTIA PONTI Ovid Tristia 1.10.13, Stat. Th. 6.328. There was a great fish-pickling industry at Byzantium, particularly of tunny-fish caught as the current swept
them (Blmner3 42 and 56, ES 4.626).
45 MAGISTER (cf. 12.79) CUMBAE is rather grandiloquent, as a cumba is a
small boat (c. piscatoria Afranius fr. 138, cf. Pliny NH 9.145; |[210] Casson1 330 n. 4);
we are reminded of Aesch. Pers. 378 (see Broadhead), Eur. Cycl. 86.
But captain of the net is yet more clearly comical. LINUM in the singular (plural
5.102) nearly always refers to a line, not a net, but see Sil. It. 7.503 sinuato lino

SATIRE four179

(Nemes. Cyn. 308 lini saeptum).

46 PONTIFICI SUMMO A variant for mxm, in Juvenal due to metrical
convenience (but not in Tacitus, Ann. 3.58.3); all the emperors held this office for
life. It is mentioned because the fish is so large that it is a monstrum (cf. 14.283) and
therefore requires procuratio according to the advice of a pontifex (Wissowa 514 n.
8; RSV 3.260 n. 4, RE 23.2290); a laboured joke. There may well also be an allusion
to the pontificum cenae (Hor. Odes 2.14.28, Mart. 12.48.12, cf. Macrob. Sat. 3.13.10).
PROPONERE For sale; usually venale would be added, but see Suet. Nero 16.2.
47 AUDERET See on 85.
48 DELATORE Domitian naturally fostered informers (Suet. 12, Pliny Pan.
345), though he started by suppressing them; this is perhaps therefore anachronistic (see introduction). Juvenal is of course comically exaggerating; the point of
delatio (see on 3.118) was to get a share in the victims property (RE quadruplator,
DE delator, Mommsen2 510), and a remex nudus would not make anyone rich.
PROTINUS R. D. Williams on Aen. 3.416 and Stat. Th. 10.264 links this with
DISPERSI and takes it to mean continuously; but the essential meaning of the
word is proceeding forwards and this seems quite suitable in all his examples.
Here it means forthwith, and goes with AGERENT.
ALGAE This is proverbially worthless (Otto s.v.).
49 INQUISITORES Tac. Agr. 2.3, 43.2 mentions Domitians inquisitiones.
AGERENT CUM i.e. would prosecute; Thes. s.v. ago 1396.23.
NUDO Not literally (cf. 6.525); for active physical work (cf. 100) such as fishing
(Gospel acc. to St John 21.7 ,
) one would remove the tunic and wear only the subligaculum (see also
Aurel. Vict. 16.2 ex nauticis, quia plerumque nudi agunt). See L. Bonfante Warren ANRW 1.4 (1973) 609. Sturtevant AJP 33, 1912, 324, denies this sense of the
word (pointing out that Nonnus in his Paraphrasis in Johannem (Migne Patrologia Graeca 43) 21.3744 certainly understood Peter to be entirely naked); but he
seems to dismiss too lightly phrases like nudus quaerat licio cinctus (Gaius 3.192),
simulacrum nudum caprina pelle amictum (Justin 43.1.7); cf. LSJ 5. |[211]
50 FUGITIVUM On runaway slaves and the law concerning return to their
owner (52) see Westermann 107, Berger s.v. servus fugitivus, Buckland 268, Crook1
186; Dig. 11.4.
51 VIVARIA CAESARIS Mentioned also Pliny NH 9.167, 10.193; Mart. 4.30 in
the Lucrine Lake. On fish-preserves in general see Blmner1 180, DS vivaria 959b.
INDE The asyndeton is harsh. Perhaps read unde; for the following accus. and
infin. cf. KS 2.545, Woodcock p. 241.
52 REVERTI is surely intended to recall the jurists phrase animus revertendi, a
concept specially relevant to the ownership of animals quae ex consuetudine abire
et redire solent Griffith G & R2 16, 1969, 149, cf. Henderson PCPS n.s. 23, 1977, 30
n. 72.

180A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

53 M. Palfurius Sura (CIL 5.8112.64, assuming this to be the same man) is mentioned as an orator by Suet. Dom. 13.1, who says that he had been expelled from
the senate (by Vespasian, the scholiast here adds); the scholiast also refers to his
eloquentia, rightly calls him a delator (not, as many editors, a jurist), and says that
he was condemned as such after Domitians death (he is probably the
of Dio Cass. 68.1.2, emended by Merula to ; the scholiast here
reports his eminence as a Stoic, cf. 3.116). Armillatus is only known from this passage and the scholiast, who quotes Marius Maximus (fr. 1 HRF Peter) to the effect
that he was influential with Domitian. He too was evidently a delator (nomina
delatorum ).
54 Juvenal enunciates the principle quicquid Juvenals words may suggest
that the right arose from the custom of sending rarities or valuable curiosities as
presents to the emperor Millar JRS 53, 1963, 36. Juvenal enunciates no principle,
and no right is involved; these are the humorously exaggerated claims of sycophants. Millar suggests a connection with the law that treasure-trove fell to the
emperor; this could be right if we assume, as Millar does not, parody of such a
law; Griffith (l.c. on 52) suggests that the phrase res natat is an adaptation of a
ruling which may have differed only in the last word: latet, appropriate to buried
treasure, having been replaced by Juvenal by the rhythmically equivalent natat. It
was a well-known principle (Ulpian Dig. 47.10.13 saepissime rescriptum) that noone could be prevented from fishing and that the sea was commune; cf. RE suppl.
7.684, Blmner1 533.
55 FISCI The precise nature of the fiscus is a highly controversial subject; see
Millar l.c., Jones JRS 40, 1950, 22 (= Jones1 ch. 6; this passage p. 109 = 26 JRS),
Brunt JRS 56, 1966, 75; RE suppl. 10.222. In a general sense it covered that part of
the imperial revenues which was more directly under the control of the emperor
than the |[212] aerarium. Informers were often concerned to establish the rights of
the fiscus over property (e.g. as a result of Augustus marriage-laws, cf. on 3.118
and Millar 346, Brunt 7981).
DONABITUR This is the fishermans thought; cf. 15.47.
56 PEREAT pereo is the passive of perdo (waste), as pessum eo of pessum do
and venum eo of venum do; cf. 1.18; 3.124; 7.99, 174, 222; 11.17, 192. If he makes a
present of the fish at least he will get some thanks for it.
568 An epic-style periphrasis indicating the end of October or the beginning
of November; but the mockery becomes plain in IAM AEGRIS, which preserves epic form but ridicules it by non-epic content. Even more than 1617 this
resembles Sen. Apoc. 2, especially as deformis hiems appears there too (and elsewhere only Sil. It. 3.489; informis Hor. Odes 2.10.15).
LETIFERO Cf. 10.221; longe periculosissimus Celsus 2.1.1 (cf. ibid. 2 and 89).
Autumn, particularly September, was notoriously an unhealthy time (Celsus
1.3.37, Hor. Epist. 1.7.59) bringing fever because of the pestilential south wind, the

SATIRE four181

Sirocco (auster 59, cf. 6.517, Hor. Serm. 2.6.1819, Odes 2.14.15 (see NisbetHubbard) etc.; Pliny NH 2.127 noxius auster, with Beaujeus note p. 207; Celsus 2.1.11
and 15).
QUARTANAM sc. febrim; in Greek , sc. ; a form of fever
with two days between the attacks (called quartan because of the ancient habit of inclusive reckoning). Ancient medical writers agree on its mildness; Celsus
3.15.6 quartana neminem iugulat, Hippocrates 1.24 (1.200.8 Khlewein
= 1.182 Loeb ed.) with the commentary of Galen, CMG 5.10.1 p. 114.3. It was associated with autumn (Hippocrates 15 (6.68 Littr = 4.40 Loeb
ed.) with Galens Commentary, CMG 5.9.1. p. 85.9) and autumn quartan fevers, especially towards winter, were thought to be long-lasting even if mild (Hippocrates
2.25 (Littr 4.478 = 4.114 Loeb ed.), reproduced by Galen
17.2.513 Khn, and Celsus 2.8.42, cf. 2.1.9). Hence Juvenal 9.1617 refers to it as a
torment not because of its severity but because of its chronic nature. Otherwise it
was regarded as a respite from more serious forms of fever (Cic. Ad Fam. 16.11.1),
and could reasonably be hoped for by invalids. Nevertheless, hoping for fever is
a paradoxically pointed way of expressing this, and Bcheler (in Friedlaenders
edition) was right to point that one of the infames materiae ( ) on
which Favorinus (c. A.D. 80150) declaimed was cum febrim quartis diebus recurrentem laudavit (Gellius 17.12 = fr. 12 pp. 13941 Barigazzi; cf. Pease CP 21, 1926,
28 and 39 n. 1). Of course sperare, like , can mean not hope but expect
even undesirable |[213] things (Lewis and Short II); but Juvenal certainly did not
intend that here.
58 STRIDEBAT HIEMS Cf. 9.67.
RECENTEM Predicative, kept the fish fresh.
59 AUSTER See on 567; being a warm wind, it would hasten the decay of the
fish (14.129; Hor. Serm. 2.2.40 with rhombus recens 42).
60 LACUS Albanos lacus Horace Odes 4.1.19, the lacus Albanus and the
lacus Nemorensis. These fill the craters of extinct volcanoes, hence as the fisherman climbs up the mountains to Alba (12.72 sublimis apex) on the via Appia he
has them beneath him (cf. Mart. 5.1.2). According to tradition Alba was founded
by Ascanius (12 l.c., hence TROIANUM; on the Trojan origin of the cult of Vestas
fire see Verg. Aen. 2.2967, Stat. Silv. 1.1.35 etc.) and dismantled by Tullus Hostilius. Tullus however left the temples (Livy 1.29; Strabo 5.3.4
) and the cult of Vesta, though mainly transferred to Rome, was in
part maintained there (Latte 405, Wissowa 157 n. 4, RE Vesta 1721.31).
On the topography of the area see the map RE 1.1310; Ashby JP 27, 1901, 489;
G. Lugli Studi Minori (1965) 354; on Domitians Alban villa see on 145. Juvenal,
himself a native of one little country town, is thinking affectionately of the past
glory of another; I see no trace of parody or irony here, nor any link with the profanation of Vesta by Crispinus (910).

182A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

62 MIRATRIX TURBA On the adjectival use of -trix (5.21, 13.80, 15.81) and -tor
(6.40, 9.61, 13.195) nouns see KS 1.232, HS 157, Naegelsbach 54.4
63 FACILI CARDINE Horace Odes 1.25.5. This is meant to underline the indignity to the senators mentioned in 64; there is nothing supernatural about it
(Scott 125).
64 Stat. Th. 1.424 exclusaeque expectant praemia matres (mothers not allowed
to see the triumphs of their sons at the Olympic games); Sen. Ep. 47.9 stare ante
limen Callisti dominum suum vidi et aliis intrantibus excludi. The thought is
pointed by the form (see on 39); the fish is admitted, the senators are excluded
and, humiliated constantly by Domitian, watch the fish enviously. ADMISSUS
and EXCLUSUS are technical words of the right of entre to the leves of the emperor; Pliny Pan. 48.4 admissis et exclusis, 47.3 admissiones. See RE and Thes. admissio, Crook2 23, Gelzer 1046, SG 1.86 = 1.90, Marquardt 144. Domitians leves
were grim occasions, Pliny Pan. 48.
OPSONIA of fish; Marquardt 432, Charitonides Mnem.2 37, 1909,
194, LSJ (3) and RE (759.38) s.v. .
65 ITUR AD ATRIDEN More obvious epic parody. For the use by antonomasia of the mythological name cf. 133, 6.660; particularly |[214] Homeric names, cf.
10.84 and on 1.61, SG 4.131 (not in ed. 10). The emperor can readily be linked with
Agamemnon, ; cf. Dio Cass. 58.24.4 and Suet. Tib. 61.3, H. D. Jocelyn Tragedies of Ennius 321 n. 4. For the impersonal passive cf. 144; Wackernagel
1.1456 comments on its Vergilian use to give archaic dignity (his example also
with itur). Wackernagel presses his point too far (itur is quite common; Fraenkel
115 n. 1), but clearly the vagueness of the idiom can give a touch of grandeur, and
it is not unfair to see this here.
PICENS Ancona was just within the borders of Picenum (Pliny NH 3.111).
66 PRIVATIS belonging to a subject; see on 1.16.
MAIORA FOCIS too big for; cf. 14, 3.203, 13.12, 14.165, 15.140 and KS 2.475.
GENIALIS Because the genius (Thes. 1838.41) has a treat; Latte 103 n. 2, Wissowa 1756, RAC Genius 58.
67 ISTE Cf. 6.295, 14.179; golden Latin would have used hic. Iste is a more familiar pronoun (Thes. s.v. 510.2, cf. 508.58 sqq.; HS 184; MeaderWlfflin ALL
11, 1900, 384 and 12, 1902, 355) and is meant to characterise the fisherman. He
does not use courtly language in 67, but in 68 we again have Juvenals favourite
humour through incongruity. The word SAGINA will have been familiar to the
fisherman from his trade; it means the small fry which feeds large fish (Varro RR
3.17.7, where it is also described as plebeiae cenae pisces; Pliny NH 9.14). There is a
play on animum laxare, where the verb is metaphorical.
68 SAECULA Poetic plural, consistent with the elevated style of the line. It was
a stock topic of flattery that the accession of each emperor was greeted as a new
saeculum; so Nero (Sen. Apoc. 1.1 and 4.1.9), Nerva (Tac. Agr. 3.1), Trajan (Tac.

SATIRE four183

ibid. 44.5, CIL 10.1401, often in Plinys letters and Pan.; Trajan himself ap. Pliny
Ep. 10.97.2). Cf. Weinstock 191, Kuijper Mnem.4 18, 1965, 160. With Domitian, who
celebrated the ludi saeculares in 88, there is a special point; cf. Plinys irony in the
account of the Vestal trial, Ep. 4.11.6.
SERVATUM sc. fato or a dis.
69 IPSE CAPI VOLUIT The emperors supernatural influence over animals is
a frequent topic of flattery especially in Martial (Scott 11924); cf. SHA 3.9.5 leones
sponte se capiendos praebuerunt in a list of prodigies.
APERTIUS A word often connected with adulatio; Cic. Lael. 99, Sen. NQ 4 pr.
5 and 9.
70 SURGEBANT CRISTAE is clearly of proverbial character (cf. 6.198), though
lacking good parallels (Thes. crista 1209.83). |[215]
71 DIS i.e. deorum potestati (see index comparatio compendiaria), cf. Sen. Dial.
10.17.6 dis aequos honores; POTESTAS however here approaches the concrete
sense discussed on 10.100. For the topic of flattery (here ironically used and with a
special point, cf. on 69) cf. 83, 6.115, Pliny Pan. 4.4 principem quem aequata dis immortalibus potestas deceret, Eur. Tro. 1169 , Isocr. 2 (
) 5 ,
. Domitian insisted that he be known as
dominus et deus noster (cf. on 96).
72 PATINAE MENSURA a dish big enough; see index nouns. Hor. Serm.
2.4.767 expensive fish should not be cramped in a dish too small, 2.2.95 grandes
rhombi patinaeque and similarly Mart. 13.81. It is not a problem confined to the
ancient world; for Brillat-Savarin see Highet 257 n. 4, and Mrs Beeton remarks
Turbot often grow to considerable size (25 lb is not uncommon) It must be
noted that if cooking a whole turbot, a turbot kettle (shaped) will be required.
73 PROCERES A word which in early Latin had a technical constitutional sense
(Festus 249 and Cic. Or. 156), but in golden prose is not used as here (only ironical
in Cic. Ad Fam. 13.15.1; not elsewhere in Cicero, nor in Caesar or Sallust). Livy has
it ten times, all in the first decade, and it is frequent in Tacitus (also at Pliny Pan.
26.6); for Pliny NH see F. Kuntz Die Sprache des Tacitus (1962) 94 n. 7. It is used
six times by Juvenal (cf. 144, which rounds off the episode by ring-composition,
and on 8.26); its poetical tinge suits this context.
745 pallor in ore sedet Ovid Met. 2.775, Tristia 3.9.18; cf. tot hominum palloribus Tac. Agr. 45.2.
MAGNAE (cf. 20 and on 1.33) AMICITIAE They were amici Caesaris (cf.
88) in the technical sense (Crook2 ch. 3, SG 1.70 = 1.74 and 4.58 = 4.56, Millar 111)
but not (cf. 73) in any real sense. On the insincerity of Domitians friendships see
Pliny Pan. 85, Dio Cass. 67.1.34; Neros were equally dangerous (Tac. Hist. 4.8).
AMICITIAE is objective genitive, after the construction pallere amicitiam.
75 LIBURNO An Illyrian slave; an usher here and perhaps at Mart. 1.49.33, of

184A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

undefined function 6.477. The proceres are not expecting a summons since it is early morning (cf. 108) and ordinarily the salutatio (624) would still be taking place.
76 ABOLLA A double cloak (Serv. Aen. 5.421, Mart. Cap. 7.802), cf. on 3.115;
Crispinus had one, Mart. 8.48. Pegasus probably wears it because of the cold (58).
77 PEGASUS (whose nomen was perhaps Plotius; Champlin ZPE 32, 1978, 269)
was a learned and famous jurist (his fragments are collected by O. Lenel Palingenesia Iuris Civilis (1889) 2.10). He was consul |[216] early in Vespasians reign
(Justinian Inst. 2.23.5) and became head of the Proculan school of law; Pomponius
Dig. 1.2.2.53 Proculo <successit> Pegasus, qui temporibus Vespasiani praefectus urbi
fuit. Pomponius may be confusing the dates of Pegasus prefecture and consulship, in which the famous SC Pegasianum was passed; on the other hand Juvenal
may be deliberately distorting facts in implying his appointment by Domitian in
order by his expressions to denigrate that emperor. See Schulz 102, 104; Syme1 805;
Vitucci 69.
ATTONITAE terror-struck; cf. 146, 12.21, 13.194, 14.306 and perhaps 8.239,
Pliny Pan. 48.1 and 76.
POSITUS See Lewis and Short pono I B 7, OLD 12b.
VILICUS The praefectus was no more than Domitians head-slave, placed over
the other (38) slaves. Domitian is an absentee (in Alba) landlord, and Rome is his
private property.
78 ANNE ALIUD Cf. 7.199, 15.122. 7881 would be best placed in parenthesis.
PRAEFECTI QUORUM OPTIMUS The other known Domitianic praefecti
urbi were C. Rutilius Gallicus (13.157) and T. Aurelius Fulvus (Syme1 644).
INTERPRES LEGUM 6.544.
QUAMQUAM This must be taken to mean that even the best and most incorruptible of the prefects thought it advisable (because of Domitians arbitrary
temper) not to exercise severity in spite of the corruption of the times. Even the
reading of PRK, quamque, is not impossible grammatically with a parenthetical
exclamation, (and just think how corrupt the times were!). I agree with Housman however that these explanations involve an unlikely interpretation of temporibus diris, which ought to refer not generally to corruption but specifically to
Domitians tyranny (as at 10.15 to Neros), cf. 151 and Mart. 12.6.1112 (= 12.3.1112
Heraeus) sub principe duro / temporibusque malis. I therefore accept Housmans
quippe (he also thought of nempe, Letters ed. H. Maas (1971) 429), for which he
compares 12.7; thus Ds tyranny perverts even this good man. Knoche Die Rmische Satire2 122 quotes a proposal by Axelson to read tamquam (reflecting that
the times were corrupt, cf. on 3.47); but it seems logical to suppose that PR point
in the direction of the corruption. Housman thought that s note interpres (Jahn:
tempus codd.) quamquam optimus tamen (Barth: tum codd.) pro tempore omnia
iniuste agenda credebat implies that did not read quamquam and that this was
interpolated from his note; but I agree with Wessner 250 that was quite capa-

SATIRE four185

ble of the mental confusion required to deduce his explanation from a text with
quamquam.
80 INERMI For the sword of justice see RE Dike 578, E. Fraenkel |[217] commentary on Aesch. Agamemnon p. 730. Justinian Codex 9.9.30 (31) iubemus
armari iura gladio ultore.
81 In both form and content this closely resembles Statius phrase Nestorei (of
his age and wisdom) mitis (82) prudentia Crispi; the idiom discussed on 39 is particularly applied to persons (107, 10.75; 13.1845 mite Thaletis ingenium) after such
epic models as (often imitated in the Ilias Latina e.g. 737 Nestoris aetas). Q. Vibius Crispus is referred to on a new fragment of the Fasti Ostienses
(Ann. Epigr. 1968 no. 6) as L. Iunius Vibius Crispus; i.e. he was originally Q.V.C.
adopted by a L. Iunius. He had a distinguished career; his first consulship (held in
61?; cf. Eck Historia 24, 1975, 343) is recorded on a tessera nummularia (RE 17.1433
no. 141, cf. 1449; but it may be a forgery, Gallivan CQ2 24, 1974, 307), his second on
the Fasti Ost. (A.D. 74; Gallivan 306), his third on an Athenian inscription (Ann.
Epigr. 1971 no. 436; the year is uncertain, see the introduction). Tacitus reports
that Crispus had been a delator under Nero, and generally (Hist. 4.413, Dial. 8
and 13.4) has a poor opinion of him (Hist. 2.10 Vibius Crispus pecunia potentia ingenio inter claros magis quam inter bonos). Juvenal however does not seem to have
much against him or any of the other three counsellors first mentioned (75103);
Trajan remarked (SHA 18.65.5) Domitianum pessimum fuisse, amicos autem bonos habuisse, cf. 84. Tacitus Dial. l.c. discusses the facundia of Crispus, and Quintilian often mentions his iucunditas (5.13.48, 10.1.119, 12.10.11; he was dead when
the second of these references was written).
82 This reverses the topic talis hominibus fuit oratio qualis vita (Sen. Ep. 114.1);
see Bramble 23.
83 Pliny Pan. 4.4 principem cuius dicione nutuque maria, terrae, pax, bella regerentur; cf. 71 above.
84 COMES in a technical sense; the comites Caesaris were those of his amici
who accompanied him on journeys and campaigns; Crook2 245, SG 1.75 = 1.78,
DE 2.468, Syme AJP 77, 1956, 264.
CLADE ET PESTE On these words (combined as here Cic. De Prov. Cons. 13)
as part of the vocabulary of abuse cf. HS 746, Naegelsbach 15.
85 LICERET licuisset would be commoner. If the condition were changed to an
affirmation, the verb would be non licebat, not licuit Duff; the same applies in the
interrogative 47 (the surrounding historical presents doubtless have some influence there, but note forent, not sint) and in the apodoses 8.263, 13.187 (again note
the future dicet), but not in the protasis 7.69 (q.v.). In other cases however there is
no perceptible difference in sense, as at 12 (apodosis) and 6.388 (question), and we
must think of a survival of archaic |[218] idiom. See HS 3323 and 662, Handford p.
124, Woodcock p. 91 (questions) and 155 (KS 2.3967 is unsatisfactory).

186A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

878 The weather has always been a topic of small-talk; Hor. Serm. 2.6.45
(nugas), Sen. Ep. 23.1 (ineptiae verba quaerentium), 67.1 (communia). The Italian
spring tends to be showery; 5.79, 9.51, Verg. Georg. 1.313 quoted by Sen. NQ 4.4.2,
Bentley on Hor. Odes 4.4.7.
88 AMICI In the technical sense but with ironical undertones, cf. on 74. Cf.
Pliny NH 29.21 pendentibus fatis.
89 DEREXIT TORRENTEM Otto flumen 7 and Nachtrge 163.
90 CIVIS patriot; cf. the use of civilis.
91 Lucan 2.383 patriaeque impendere vitam, Stat. Silv. 5.1.63 vitamque impendere famae.
923 This looks like a combination of octoginta solstitia and octogesimum solstitium; cf. Mart. 12.31.7 septima lustra, HS 213, Svennung 2923 and 639, B. Lf
stedt Eranos 56, 1958, 206 (see also Sen. Ag. 42, where the mss. differ between dena
and decima lustra). But it may be simpler to assume a poetic plural; for the combination of this with a numeral cf. Verg. Aen. 2.642 una excidia and on Juv. 3.255.
SOLSTITIUM means the summer solstice in particular, contrasted with hiems as
here Verg. Georg. 1.100 and often; it is not applied to the winter solstice (which is
bruma, i.e. brevissima dies) at all until post-Augustan Latin.
93 Lucan 10.55 Pellaea tutus in aula. All courts are dangerous places, cf. 97.
945 Nothing more is known of the elder Acilius, though it is often thought that
he is somehow to be connected with the M. Acilius Aviola who was one of the
counsellors of Claudius and consul in A.D. 54 (Crook2 434; Syme3 98; H. Musurillo Acts of the Pagan Martyrs (1954) 18 and 133; Gallivan Historia 27, 1978, 621, who
relies too much on s confused note here). The younger, M. Acilius Glabrio, was
consul A.D. 91. Dio Cass. 67.14 records that he fought with a lion (this is confirmed
against Juvenals bears by the allusion at Fronto p. 77.1522, though Dio also says
generally that ) at Domitians Alban villa. He was exiled and then
executed (Suet. 10.2) in A.D. 95, partly because of Domitians jealousy at his prowess, partly because he was suspected of plotting, and (Dio seems to imply) partly
because of (which means that he had Jewish or Christian connections).
The younger Acilius, who did not reach his consulship until over eight years
after the date of this meeting, seems very junior to be a member of the consilium,
and he may have been anachronistically introduced by Juvenal in order to allow
more denigration of Domitian. In introducing the Statius quotation Valla says
Acilius Glabrionis |[219] filius consul sub Domitiano fuit, Papinii Statii carmine de
bello Germanico probatus; but there is no need to suppose that Valla had specific warrant either for giving the father the cognomen Glabrio or for stating that
Statius referred to the son.
IUVENE i.e. fl; see on 10.310.
96 DOMINI The primary meaning of this word was that of the owner of e.g.
slaves (cf. 38 and Pliny Pan. 7.6, 45.3), and therefore the emperors before Domi-

SATIRE four187

tian constantly rejected the name, as D. himself did for a few years; but then it
came to please him (Suet. 13.12, where see Mooney; Dio Cass. 67.13.4). See further
Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 10.2.1, Scott 102, RE princeps 2127 (on Domitian 2131),
Branger 37 and 62, Taeger 2.353, Mommsen1 2.75962, Alfldi 20910 = Rm.
Mitt. 50, 1935, 912.
GLADIIS Cf. 8.195, 10.345.
97 Cf. 1.345, Sen. Dial. 4.33.2 rarissimam rem in aula, senectutem, Tac. Ann.
6.10.3 L. Piso pontifex, rarum in tanta claritudine, fato obiit. See RE princeps 2195,
Syme1 574 sqq. and 2 490 sqq., Gelzer 155.
98 The mythological Giants were sons of , literally Terrae filii (cf. Naevius
fr. 19 Morel), and terrae filius was a proverbial phrase meaning a nobody (Otto
terra 2, Thes. filius 758.23; Josephson Eranos 54, 1956, 246). The elaborate circumlocution for this common phrase shows Juvenals favourite humour through incongruity, here emphasised by the use of the diminutive of the puny human contrasted with his brother giants.
99101 Domitians Alban villa (see on 145) had an amphitheatre (though the
extant one is later; Blake (on 145) 138) in which D. himself performed (Suet. 19).
For Numidian bears cf. Jennison 49, Toynbee 94, SG 4.183 = 4.270, RE Br 2759,
Numidia 1393; for the venationes in general SG 2.62 = 2.77, Balsdon1 310, J. Aymard
Essai sur les Chasses Romaines (1951) 74, Robert 309, DS venatio 700. Suet. 4.4
mentions the venationes given by Domitian at his Alban Quinquatria Minervae.
For nobles appearing in the arena cf. 2.143 sqq., 8.199 sqq.; Juvenal there assails
Gracchus violently, but here appears to excuse Glabrio, presumably because he
wants to whiten Glabrio in order to blacken Domitian.
NUDUS See on 49 and cf. 1.23, 6.O.12; on the attire of venatores cf. SG 4.180 =
4.267, Robert 3245.
NUMIDAS The noun is used adjectivally as at Ovid AA 2.183; cf. 15.23 and KS
1.233.
101 INTELLEGAT PRV have assimilated the mood to MIRATUR.
102 PATRICIAS The Acilii were plebeians but must at some time have been
raised to the patriciate (perhaps by Claudius), since the Acilius Glabrio who was
consul in 152 was a Salius (cf. on 6.604). |[220] However historians may be unwise
to press Juvenals word; he seems to use this adjective merely as an elevated synonym for nobilium; see especially 10.332, also 1.24 (8.190 is less clear-cut).
ACUMEN, BRUTE, TUUM An oxymoron, as brutus is often combined with
hebes and the like (Sen. De Ben. 3.37.4 etc.); Brutus himself is hebes in the Brutus
of Accius ap. Cic. De Div. 1.43.
103 BARBATO REGI Tarquin. For BARBATO cf. 5.30, 16.31. The early Romans
wore beards, and according to Varro RR 2.11.10 the first barbers came to Italy
from Sicily in 300 B.C. Pliny NH 7.211, who refers to Varro, says that Africanus
sequens set the fashion of shaving daily; either he means the younger Scipio and

188A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

has misunderstood the story reported by Aul. Gell. 3.4, or he means the elder and
sequens is corrupt (the same word begins the section). After the end of the third
century B.C. young men wore a beard until the barbae depositio (see on 3.186 and
cf. 6.215, 8.166, 13.56); a close-clipped one was retained until about the age of forty, and was then shaved off entirely (6.105, 1.25 and 10.226, 14.217). Hadrian with
his fondness for Greek customs brought the wearing of beards back into favour;
it is noticeable that even in the Hadrianic books Juvenal takes no account of the
change of fashion, but still speaks in terms of the custom of his youth and middle
age (cf. on 6.502). See RE Bart 324, Blmner1 26771, Marquardt 600, Carcopino
163, Paoli 108, Kaufmann CW 25, 1932, 1456. Here the word BARBATUS implies
primitive rusticity.
104 MELIOR more cheerful; vultu meliore Mart. 4.1.4.
IGNOBILIS The nobility had most to fear (cf. 97, 1.34, Tac. Hist. 1.2 nobilitas
opes omissi gestique honores pro crimine et ob virtutes certissimum exitium), but
nobody was secure.
105 Rubrius Gallus is first heard of as one of Neros generals, and in the civil
wars he ended up on the side of Vespasian (Tac. Hist. 2.51 and 99), under whom
he is mentioned as conducting a campaign in Moesia (Joseph. BJ 7.4.3 = 92). The
offensa is thus explained by the scholiast: iste Rubrius aliquando <Do>mitiam
(Matthias: tibiam codd.; the inferior scholia mention uxor Domitiani, and for her
immorality cf. Suet. Tit. 10.2) in pueritia corruperat et verebatur ne pro hac mercede<m> [poenas] ab ipso reposceret.
106 IMPROBIOR more impudent cf. 5.73, 9.63; for Juvenals opinion of hypocrisy cf. Satire Two (e.g. 13).
107 A clear parody of the epic-type periphrasis discussed on 81; cf. 12.60 and
6.326. The identification of Montanus is not quite certain, but he is probably Curtius Montanus, the pater of Tac. Ann. 16.33, who had enough influence with Nero
(cf. 1369) to save his son. His gastronomy (13943) had by now caught up with
his figure. |[221]
108 SUDANS Cf. 1.28.
MATUTINO AMOMO Cf. on 75 and for the use of the adjective on 1.27.
Respectable Romans would not wear perfumes until the time of the cena; 11.122
etc., Mart. 5.64.3 (amomum), RE Salben 1855, Marquardt 331, Blmner1 4001 and
4356. For this perfume (8.159) see RE amomon.
109 Perfume was lavishly used at Roman funeralsof necessity, in view of the
Italian heat which hastened putrescence (RE Salben 1857, SG 2.211 = 2.361, Blmner1
484, Robert REA 62, 1960, 338, Bmer on Ovid Fasti 3.560; Mart. 11.54.1 olentem
funera murram); amomum in this connection Ovid Ex Ponto 1.9.52, Pers. 3.104,
Stat. Silv. 2.4.34, 3.3.132 (in the burial urn Ovid Tristia 3.3.69, where see Luck).
FUNERA perhaps means corpses, cf. 10.258; but funeral processions is more
of a joke.

SATIRE four189

110 POMPEIUS cannot be securely identified.

APERIRE Of course he did not personally slit the throats; cf. on 3.37, 16.13. For
the prolative infinitive after saevus cf. Hor. Epist. 1.15.30, Sil. It. 11.7. For APERIRE
cf. 9.98, Sen. Dial. 3.2.2 aperire iugulum, which Duff plausibly suggests to be a
quotation from tragedy, and other examples in Thes. aperio 214.57, to which add
Ovid Met. 13.693, Val. Flacc. 3.154.
SUSURRO cf. Pliny Pan. 62.9; into Domitians ear (86).
11112 Cornelius FUSCUS prima iuventa quietis cupidine senatorium ordinem
exuerat Tac. Hist. 2.86.3 (see Heubners commentary ad loc. and p. 263); quies is
at this time often used of the pursuit of an equestrian career (Sherwin-White on
Pliny Ep. 1.14.5, Duff on Sen. Dial. 12.18.2), and Tacitus (l.c. and Hist. passim) gives
much information about the career of Fuscus; see Syme AJP 58, 1937, 7 and H. G.
Pflaum Carrires Procuratoriennes questres (1960) 1 p. 77 no. 34 (whose account
is somewhat distorted by his adoption of a mistaken emendation in Tacitus l.c.).
He was at this time praefectus praetorio (Lydus De Magistr. 2.19, 3.22), and was
defeated and killed with his army by the Dacians, probably in A.D. 86 (Syme CAH1
11.1701 and JRS 35, 1945, 11011, Garzetti 288 and 656, Vollmer introduction to
Stat. Silv. 49, Davies JRS 10, 1920, 19 n. 2); Mart. 6.76 writes an epitaph for him.
MEDITATUS PROELIA Cf. 7.128 and Thes. meditor 579.4; Juvenal seems to
imply that he was only an armchair general, but we know from Tacitus that this
was not so.
113 The climax; these are the two most dangerous members, associated as here
by Pliny Ep. 4.22.46 (see Sherwin-White) and [Aurel. Vict.] Epit. 12.5, who refers
to Catullus as a delator. A. Didius |[222] Gallus Fabricius Veiento was presumably
the son or adopted son of A. Didius Gallus (cf. Jones AJP 92, 1971, 476), who was
a comes of Claudius in Britain (CIL 3 suppl. 7247 = ILS 970; cf. Oliver Hesperia 10,
1941, 239 and AJP 69, 1948, 219, McDermott AJP 91, 1970, 143 n. 46). He was cos. II
in A.D. 80, and his third consulship is alluded to by Pliny Pan. 58.1 and mentioned
on an inscription from Mainz (CIL 13.7253 = ILS 1010 = McCrum and Woodhead
155); he was presumably in Germany as a comes of Domitian in his war against the
Chatti (hence Statius comparison of him with the Cunctator, who was also a prudent general). See further in the introduction. His survival under Nerva (Pliny Ep.
l.c.), his OCCULTAE criminationes ([Aurel. Vict.] l.c.), and his Fabian prudentia
fit together. See also 3.185, 6.113.
L. Valerius Catullus Messalinus was consul in 73 and 85, both times with Domitian. Tac. Agr. 45 intra Albanam arcem sententia Messalini strepebat (associated
with the delatores Massa and Carus).
114 Catullus was blind (Pliny l.c.); caeci amatores are ridiculed by Mart. 3.15
and 8.49, Anth. Lat. 357 because normally oculi sunt in amore duces Prop. 2.15.12;
cf. 10.332, Oldfather in Donum Natalicium Schrijnen (1929) 630, E. Rohde Der
Griech. Roman3 (1914) 159 n. 2, Ogle AJP 34, 1913, 12946. It is hard to tell whether

190A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

NUNQUAM goes with VISAE or FLAGRABAT.

115 MONSTRUM like Crispinus (2); GRANDE cf. 6.645.
116 The following note is largely reproduced from BICS 22, 1975, 157. The words
A PONTE present a problem. A ponte satelles has usually been understood to
mean that Catullus was a beggar-courtier. But in the parallels quoted (6.118 mere
trix Augusta, 8.148 mulio consul, 8.198 citharoedo principe mimus nobilis) the persons concerned are actually acting as prostitute, muleteer, lyre-player and actor,
and this is necessary for such oxymora to function properly; the point is destroyed
if the noun (here a ponte) on which it depends is itself metaphorical, and Catullus is not here represented as begging. Moreover Juvenal could not say first that
Catullus was a beggar, then that he deserved to be one. An old punctuation caecus adulator dirusque, a ponte satelles dignus has been revived by Marache, but is
clearly unsatisfactory.
Housman put commas before and after a ponte and took this with 117; but, as
he admits, the hyperbaton is much more violent than any of the parallels quoted
by him from Juvenal (6.11516, 14.114, 11.1879), and this punctuation introduces
a difficulty. Modern Ariccia is on the hillside which was the citadel of the ancient town; ancient Aricia was in the valley (Strabo 5.3.12.239). There was a hill
on the via Appia down into Aricia so steep that carriages had to |[223] brake hard
in descending it; they were therefore going very slowly, and this gave a golden
opportunity for the importunities of beggars (Persius 6.56, Mart. 2.19.3, 12.32.10),
but no pons is ever mentioned in this connection. Beggars at Rome itself (this is
specifically stated by Seneca Dial. 7.25.1 in sublicium pontem me transfer et inter
egentes abice, and there is nothing to indicate that the other references envisage
anywhere else; Juv. 5.8, 14.134, Ovid Ibis 416 = 418, Mart. 10.5.3, 12.32.25) regularly
thronged the bridges, for an obvious reason; traffic is funnelled to bridges. Now in
the valley at Aricia the via Appia is carried for some way on an elevated causeway,
fully described by Florescu, Ephemeris Daco-Romana 3, 1925, 22 with photographs
figs. 1114 (cf. also the plan facing p. 32). We may grant that this could be called a
pons, in spite of Haverfield CR1 14, 1900, 86 (the word is usually so understood at
Tac. Ann. 1.61.1, 63.35, Hirtius BG 8.14.4; cf. RE pons 2428), but the reason for the
proverbial connection of the Roman bridges and beggars, which must imply an
urban environment in which a number of streets are channelled on to one outlet,
no longer applies.
Some have supposed a ponte to be corrupt, but none of the emendations proposed has anything to commend it, and any emendation will leave another difficulty. For it is improbable that Juvenal, after mentioning Catullus blindness in
a line (114) which gains point from its indirectness, would destroy that point by
caecus in 116, which is made even weaker by the intervening line. Moreover, as
explained above, a caecus amator forms a fine paradox, but there is nothing paradoxical about a caecus adulator, and that phrase here weakly anticipates the point

SATIRE four191

of 11922. Perhaps there is relevance in LaFleurs citation (Rev. Phil.3 48, 1974, 73)
of Catull. 67.25 sive quod impia mens CAECO flagrabat amore.
I therefore regard 116 as spurious. It is a line which grew from glosses, caecus
adulator on 11922 (on 119 our scholia remark quam Catullus caecus adulator and
tantae adulationis erat iste Catullus caecus), dirus satelles on mortifero. A ponte is
perhaps Juvenals de ponte 14.134 adapted to the metre and part of a comment on
mendicaret; but I cannot help wondering if the interpolator misunderstood axes
when I recall Catull. 17.3 crura ponticuli acsiclis (so Owen: ac sulcis V) stantis in
redivivis.
Even after the excision of 116 Catullus is very abundantly described; cf. 14.18
22, 26771.
118 IACTARET BASIA In thanks for the alms; see Tac. Hist. 1.36.3 (note serviliter), RE suppl. 5.518. Tacitus prefers the more dignified oscula, though in this
phrase Mart. 1.3.7 and Phaedr. 5.7.28 have basia. At 6.384 basia is metrically convenient. |[224]
120 AT may be translated unfortunately; it seems to have sometimes an
ironical force which sed has not: cf. Cic. Ad Att. 7.21.2 consul ei rescripsit ut
prius ipse in Picenum (sc. iret); at illud totum erat amissum Duff.
121 Petron. 52.3 Hermerotis pugnas et Petraitis (cf. 71.6).
CILICIS Apparently a contemporary gladiator named after his country of origin, like Syrus at Hor. Serm. 2.6.44; as a servile name Thes. onom. s.v. 436.14 (cf.
Mart. 6.72).
122 PEGMA , a scaffold of wood erected in the theatres or amphitheatres to produce stage effects; see DS machina 1478b, RE and LSJ I 2 s.v. and add
Prudent. Perist. 1017. Phaedr. 5.7.7 has dum pegma rapitur; can he have ventured
on pegma, -ae, like schema, -ae, so that pegma l.c. would be ablative? The PUERI
were probably actors representing e.g. Icarus (Suet. Nero 12) or Ganymede; or
they may have been Cupids. Mart. Spect. 16 similarly describes a bull evidently
represented as carrying Hercules up to heaven, raptus abit media quod ad aethera
taurus harena.
VELARIA The awnings which covered the Roman theatres, usually called vela;
uelabra Amm. Marc. 14.6.25. See Balsdon1 257, Bmer on Ovid Met. 5.389, Bieber
179 and 199, Beare 170, RE Theatron 1419, DS velum 677, J. Durm Baukunst der
Etrusker (und) Rmer2 (1905) 6879.
1234 BELLONA The Cappadocian goddess Ma, whose cult was introduced
at Rome in the time of Sulla, was given the name of the old Roman goddess of
war, though in nature she was quite different, being one of the Asiatic orgiastic
goddesses like Cybele; cf. 6.512 and see Latte 281, Wissowa 348, Cumont1 50, RSV
3.75, RAC 2.127. Her priests, like those of Cybele (2.112), were called fanatici (from
fanum, which often indicates the temple of a non-Roman god; Wissowa 469 n. 2,
RE s.v. 1996.30), i.e. , ; cf. RAC l.c., RSV 3.153 n. 6, RE s.v., DE

192A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

1.988 and on the temple-estates of Ma in Asia RE Ma 85, Bmer 2 (1960) 168. They
went into wild trances in which they practised self-mutilation. The Mainz inscription of Veiento (see on 113) is a dedication to Nemetona, and McDermott l.c. 139
suggests that she may be identified with Bellona.
OESTRO Similarly used of Bacchic frenzy Sen. Oed. 443.
124 DIVINAT For the prophecies of the fanatici cf. 6.517 and the references
given by Wissowa 349 n. 3, Latte 281 n. 3, to which add Arnob. 1.24.
126 DE TEMONE The Britons fought from the poles of their chariots (Caes.
BG 4.33); T. Rice Holmes Ancient Britain and the Invasions of Julius Caesar (1907)
674.
127 ARVIRAGUS is chosen by Juvenal simply as a Celtic-sounding |[225] name.
Vs Arviracus is the correct Celtic form, but we have no assurance that Juvenal
would have known this, and it is probably merely a lucky accident. Britain was in
the news at the dramatic date of this poem, which is about half-way through the
governorship of Agricola.
128 The thorns of the fins are called SUDES to justify Veientos interpretation
as a military omen. A drawing of a turbot will be found in Thompson2 223. From
this it can be seen that Housman was right in pointing out that the reference cannot be to the lateral fins, which are small and do not resemble stakes, but must be
to the long rows of dorsal fins. Bower CR2 8, 1958, 9 rightly interprets spines running in a line up its back or marching up, comparing the military phrase erigere
aciem (agmen) in collem (clivum).
HOC DEFUIT UNUM id rebus defuit unum Verg. Aen. 12.643, there a cry of
despair.
129 As Roman gastronomes professed to be able to do, 139 sqq.
130 Domitian brings the discussion (of which Juvenal has only picked out the
high-lights, hinting at more in 119) to an end by asking, with the formal word
CENSES, for sententiae (136); for the procedure cf. Crook2 113.
CONCIDITUR A deliberative subjunctive would be usual; cf. 28, 3.296, 6.O.29,
7.165 and KS 1.120, HS 308. It is often remarked that the indicative so used is uncommon outside the first person, but this is merely because most deliberative
questions are naturally in the first person. Here concidimus would suit the metre
but not the imperial dignity.
ABSIT HOC Val. Max. 3.2.20 absit istud dedecus a sanguine nostro.
132 TENUI A sign of fine workmanship. (Pliny NH 35.161).
SPATIOSUM ORBEM is usually understood of the fish (cf. 39 spatium), but
more probably refers to the circumference of the dish itself.
133 PROMETHEUS was the first potter, as he moulded men out of clay (14.35).
Hence his name is applied to potters in general (cf. on 1.61); Lucian Prometheus es
in verbis 2, Symphosius Aenigm. 81, Epigr. Bob. 21.
134 PROPERATE sc. servi.

SATIRE four193

SED Turning from the slaves to Domitian; as if it were vos properate, sed tu,
Caesar, figulos duc tecum; but he cannot give an order to the emperor.
135 CASTRA Because of the military element underlying the whole satire.
Hirschfeld 314 took it to mean court, a sense common in later Latin (Thes. s.v.
561.43, cf. 545.65; e.g. CIL 6.8520 dispensator castrorum, Macrob. Sat. 2.4.6); this
meaning develops from the military side of the emperors position (dux and imperator), cf. Dio |[226] Cass. 53.16.5 (of Augustus)
. That however does not suit SEQUANTUR here, and
is rightly rejected by Mommsen1 2.807 n. 2 and Hermes 25, 1890, 242 n. 1 = Ges.
Schr. 7.315 n. 2; cf. Boulvert 166.
137 NOCTES NERONIS Of which Nero was proud (Tac. Ann. 16.20).
138 IAM MEDIAS It was midnight before anyone noticed; cf. 6.302, Suet. Nero
27.2 epulas ad mediam noctem protrahebat.
ALIAM alteram, which is metrically awkward, would be more precise (cf. 6.437,
8.245, 10.150, 7.114); but even without metrical compulsion the Romans were not
always exact in such matters, cf. on 8.196. There is a similar revival of hunger
at 6.302 (already adduced in the preceding note), cf. Friedlaender on Petron. 65;
wine was thought to stimulate the appetite, Mart. 5.78.1718.
PULMO So Alcaeus (D. L. Page Sappho and Alcaeus
(1955) 303) and others, e.g. Plato Timaeus 70c and 91a (see A. E. Taylors commentary pp. 5034 and F. M. Cornford Platos Cosmology (1937) 284 n. 1), who is
criticised by Plut. Quaest. Symp. 7.1 (whence Aul. Gell. 17.11, Macrob. Sat. 7.15).
The notion is opposed by Hippocrates 4.56 (7.604 Littr = 11.119 Bud
ed.), cf. Littr 1.3767; but 2 (9.81 Littr = REG 57, 1944, 9) admits that
some liquid enters the lungs (see M. R. Cohen and I. E. Drabkin A Source-Book of
Greek Science (1948) 479). See further Onians 36 and 423, Fuchs Hermes 29, 1894,
1934, RE Erasistratus 338, von Staden BICS 22, 1975, 181.
FALERNO This noble wine is called ardens by Horace Odes 2.11.19, Mart. 9.73.5
and 14.113.1 (cf. Juv. 13.216). For the metaphor cf. 5.49 (but not 10.27), Eur. Alc. 758
.
140 TEMPESTATE MEA Cf. 6.26, 7.2 and contrast nostro tempore 115, 15.68.
This use of tempestas in the sense of tempus (usually in the ablative) is considered
poetical by Cicero (De Or. 3.153); cf. Lucil. 731 qua t., Stat. Th. 6.13 festa t.
1402 On the production and consumption of oysters in the Roman world see
Marquardt 442, Blmner1 188, Andr 108, RE Austern 2590, Keller 2.564, Thompson2 191. Those of Circeii are mentioned by Hor. Serm. 2.4.33, Pliny NH 32.603;
those of the Lucrine Lake by Juv. 8.856 and 11.49, Pliny 9.1689, 32.612 (whence
Macrob. Sat. 3.15 = 2.11) and often (RE Lucrinus lacus 1696.16; the method of
cultivation is shown on some glass-engravings, DArms 136, Kolendo tudes et
Travaux 9, 1976, 144, Casson2 141). British oysters (Britannica) are mentioned by
Pliny 9.169, 32.62 (cf. Auson. Epist. 3 Prete 367). Rutupiae (see RE s.v.) is modern

194A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Richborough, near Sandwich on the East coast of Kent; many oyster-shells have
been found in excavation there (B. W. Cunliffe |[227] Fifth Report on Excavations
at R. = Reports of Society of Antiquaries 23, 1968, 24 and 33), but they are generally common in Roman sites. It was familiar to the Romans as the terminal of
the crossing from Boulogne; Juvenal probably took the adjective from Lucan 6.67
Rutupina litora (= Britannica, by synecdoche). See I. A. Richmond Roman Britain
(Penguin ed. 1955) 1478; J. Hawkes Guide to Prehistoric and Roman Monuments
in England (1951) 46; J. Liversidge Britain in the Roman Empire (1968) 41516; S. S.
Frere Britannia (1967) 118, 317, plate 32a.
-VE This ought to mean that the oysters are divided into two groups, (A) those
of Circeii, (B) a second group falling into two sub-groups, (i) those of the Lucrine
Lake, (ii) those of Britain; but this can hardly be. If Juvenal wrote forent aut
Rutupinone, the groups would be (A) (i) (ii) (B), which is much more plausible;
after the corruption of -ne to -ve, a marginal correction n could easily have been
referred to aut to make it into an.
142 Roman gourmets were particular about the sources of their delicacies and
expert in detecting them; cf. 129, Hor. Serm. 2.4.316, Stat. Silv. 4.6.811 and perhaps Lucil. 328 (though it is corrupt).
143 ECHINI sea-urchin, a delicacy often coupled with oysters (Pliny Ep. 1.15.3,
Varro Sat. Men. 173, Thompson2 70); cf. Andr 106, Blmner1 190.
145 ALBANAM ARCEM The word arx is chosen invidiously by Juvenal and
Tacitus (quoted on 113) in order to suggest the tyranny of Domitian, cf. 10.307; it
was a necessary step to tyranny in Greece to seize the acropolis, and Dio Cass. 67.1.2
says of Domitian and Alba .
Alba of course was on a mountain (see on 60) and the word is easily applicable to
it (Mart. 9.101.12); in fact it was technically the correct term, for after the destruction of the town by Tullus Hostilius there was no longer a community of Alba but
merely an arx with a few cult ceremonies (CIL 6.2172 Virgo Vestalis maxima arcis
Albanae, 14.2947 Salius arcis Albanae; see also Livy 7.24.8, Sil. It. 6.598, Ashby (on
60) 49). On this arx see Lugli, Bull. Comm. Arch. Rom. 45, 1917, 39.
On Domitians fondness for his Alban villa see Dio Cass. l.c. and 66.3.4, 9.4;
RE Albanus ager 1308.9. For the remains see M. E. Blake Roman Construction in
Italy from Tiberius through the Flavians (1959) 134. Another meeting of his consi
lium there in July 82 is recorded CIL 9.5420 = FIRA 1 p. 423 no. 75 = McCrum and
Woodhead 462 (cf. Crook2 49).
1457 Domitian conducted a campaign against the Chatti in 83 (see Syme CAH1
11.162, Garzetti 280 and 655; Evans Historia 24, 1975, 121 rejects the attempt by
Jones ibid. 22, 1973, 79 to put it |[228] early in 82); after this he celebrated a triumph
and assumed the name Germanicus, though in fact our sources assert that he won
no credit (Dio Cass. 67.45, Tac. Agr. 39, where see OgilvieRichmond, and Germ.
37.6, Pliny Pan. 1617). Frontinus, who served on this campaign, praises Ds gen-

SATIRE four195

eralship (Strat. 1.1.8, 1.3.10, 2.3.23, 2.11.7); but he was writing under Domitian. The
Sygambri had been completely subdued since the time of Augustus (cf. on 8.51),
and if Juvenal is not simply mentioning them as a Germanic-sounding name he
may be hinting at the fictitious nature of Ds triumph. DUX MAGNUS (cf. 2.104)
is used of the emperor without any undertones by Stat. Silv. 3.1.62, 3.4.57, but in
this context is probably an ironical reference to his military pretensions (cf. indu
perator 29).
ATTONITOS Cf. 77.
TORVIS Hor. Odes 4.2.3 and 14.51, Tac. Ann. 4.47.
148 DIVERSIS as usual in classical Latin means distant; Ovid AA 1.685 diverso
venerat orbe, Met. 2.323, Verg. Aen. 12.708 genitos diversis partibus orbis.
EX The variant a is probably due to misreading of a compendium of et; even
modern collators have fallen into this trap (see CR2 17, 1967, 300).
149 The letter wings its way to Rome, cf. Cic. Ad Att. 2.19.3 litterae Capuam
ad Pompeium volare dicebantur, Aelius Aristides 33 ( )
. To modern readers this looks like a reference to carrier-pigeons, but these were little known in the ancient world (RE
Taube 24934, Jennison 1034, Thompson1 242, Naber Mnem.2 39, 1911, 107; Pliny
10.71 mentions a similar use of swallows). Plut. Otho 4.1 refers to couriers in the
Roman army as (cf. Hesychius and Photius s.v.); this name is derived
ultimately from Egyptian sacred officials who wore a hawks wing on their head
(RE s.v., LSJ , Ronchi Parola del Passato 23, 1968, 290).
The scholiast saw a reference to the custom (further discussed in editions) of
attaching a feather to despatches containing news of defeats; but Juvenals phrasing makes that very unlikely.
152 INLUSTRES ANIMAS Verg. Aen. 6.758. URBI would be better printed
with a capital.
1534 imply a typically Juvenalian attack on the spinelessness of the nobility,
but in this case he is not quite fair. It is true that those who actually struck down
Domitian were of humble station (Suet. 17, Dio Cass. 67.15), but the conspirators
were thought to include his wife Domitia and the praefecti praetorio Norbanus
and Petronius Secundus (Dio l.c.; these are the amici of Suet. 14.1).
CERDONIBUS Cf. 8.182. is a proper name associated with |[229] slaves
(so e.g. Papinian Dig. 38.1.42; cf. M. Ulpius Cerdo the freedman in Ann. Epigr.
1946.140, ibid. 1975.79, and the slave in Menanders Encheiridion (?), del Corno
Parola del Passato 23, 1968, 306) or workmen who husband their poor wages, e.g.
a cobbler in Herodas 6 and 7 (see HeadlamKnox xlix), and so also Mart. 3.16, 59,
99 (where Heraeus rightly prints it as a proper name; see his edition xxii). [Addendum, originally on p. 623: For the name on papyri see F. Preisigke Namenbuch (1922) and D. Foraboschi Onomasticon Alterum Papyrol. (196771) s.v.] The
etymology from is hinted at in Petron. 60, where one slave is called Cerdo,

196A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

another Lucr<i>o, a third Felicio (cf. Festus s.v. Cercopa 56). It then comes to be
used generally of humble folk, as at Pers. 4.51, the sutores et zonarii of Cic. Pro
Flacco 17 (cf. sutor 3.294); CIL 4.6869 cerdo cerdonibus sal. How far it should be
treated as a generalising plural of a proper name, like Virronibus 5.149, and how
far it had become a common noun is rather an unreal question; Van Wageningen
Mnem.2 40, 1912, 148 points out that in both places in Juvenal it is contrasted with
other proper names, cf. E. H. Brewster Roman Craftsmen (1917) 55.
Charlesworth JRS 27, 1937, 60 points to the existence at Domitians court of a
cobbler named Felicio (Epictet. 1.19.1623; cf. Petron. l.c.).
TIMENDUS Stephanus was at risk (Suet. 17.1, where see Mooney; more generally Dio Cass. 67.15).
LAMIARUM One of those put to death by Domitian was L. Aelius Plautius
Lamia Aelianus (cos. 80), the first husband of the empress Domitia (Suet. 1.3 and
10.2; Dio Cass. 66.3.4). The plural represents him as a type, people like L.. To Juvenal the Aelii Lamiae are a type of ancient noble ancestry (6.385; genus decorum
Tac. Ann. 6.27), but in fact they did not rise above equestrian rank until Augustan times, when Horace (Odes 3.17) has to construct a mythical genealogy; this is
significant for the extinction of the old republican nobility (see on 97 and cf. Tac.
Ann. 11.25.2, Apul. Flor. 8 ex senatoribus pauci nobiles genere). One at least was
alive when this was written, L. Aelius Lamia Aelianus, cos. 116; he can hardly have
read this passage with pleasure.

[230]

Satire Five

This poem is, like Six, a . In 1.1324 Juvenal had remarked on

the frequent disappointment of clients hopes (spes, cf. 5.166) of an invitation to
dinner; now he tries to divert Trebius from the life of a parasite by describing the
indignities inflicted when an invitation is given. Better beggary (811), just as suicide or homosexuality is better than marriage and its humiliations (6.307). When
he came to write Nine Juvenal deliberately recalled this poem by again using the
name Virro (on 9.35); Trebius and Naevolus are both slaves (127, 161, 173; indirectly 9.45) and suffer the indignities of dependence. Naevolus too cannot change his
way of life; but Juvenal does not preach at him as he does at Trebius.
The train of thought is this:
111 propositio.
12155 main theme, tractatio.
(a) 12 (primo fige loco) 23 This invitation is the sole recompense for all your
services
(b) 24155 and a poor recompense it is.
2479 Accompaniments of the meal (note the mention of cibus 49 before
its serving is described); 2465 all that has to do with drinking, the wine,
vessels, water and servants,
6679 the bread (cf. 169) and the servants who offer it. Thus the servants
link the descriptions of drinks and bread, and the bread introduces the description of eating.
80106 The first ferculum, a fish course.
10713 Interlude, in which for the moment Juvenal turns to address Virro.
11445 The second ferculum, foie gras, chicken, boar (which, as at 1.140, is
not shared), truffles, hare. The clients are in suspense waiting for their share
(1669), and Juvenal leaves us too in suspense whether they will get any, but
they never do (cf. 1201, 135) and dare not remonstrate (125 sqq.). Ribbeck
proposed to place 1669 |[231] after 124, and there is sufficient homoeoteleu197

198A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ton between 124 -cetur and 169 -cetis to justify this palaeographically; see
on 169.
14655 The dessert, mensae secundae. The serving of the mushrooms here
is rather surprising, and they appear to duplicate the tubera (116); but they
seem to be served in the mensae secundae in the meal phrase-book, CGL
3.652.11.
15673 Conclusion, which recalls the introduction; with omnia ferre si potes, et
debes (170) cf. 3, with 1713 cf. 34, with quis tam nudus 163 cf. 811.
We may compare this meal with that at 11.64 sqq., where again the gustus or
promulsis is not mentioned, and there are two fercula, goat and asparagus, chicken
and eggs, followed by fruit for dessert, and that in Hor. Serm. 2.8, where there is a
gustus of (cold) boar, followed by two fercula, squilla and muraena with Venafran
oil, foie gras and hare.
The central theme of the disparity between the food of the host and that of
humble guests is found in a number of epigrams of Martial which have influenced
this poem, 1.20 (see on 121 and 147), 1.43 (see on 121 and 167), 2.43, 3.60 and 82,
6.11, 9.2 (see on 113). It is not merely a literary stock theme, because Pliny Ep.
2.6 denounces the custom. His host sibi et paucis opima quaedam, ceteris vilia et
minuta ponebat. vinum etiam parvulis lagunculis in tria genera descripserat
aliud sibi et nobis, aliud minoribus amicis , aliud suis nostrisque libertis; other
quotations in the notes. Julius Caesar (Suet. 48) punished a baker for serving him
different bread from that of the guests; Hadrian (SHA 1.17.4) took care that this
should not happen. Pliny NH 14.91 comments unfavourably on those who unlike
Cato serve different wine to themselves and their guests, and 19.53 sqq. declaims,
though without reference to cenae, on the difference between the apples, bread,
cabbages, asparagus and water consumed by the rich and the poor. One will note
that this poem exemplifies the same combination of meanness and extravagance
(113) as was attacked in One.
Morford AJP 98, 1977, 234 points out that Virros cups, apples and boar are
related to grand mythological exempla, and the former two are contrasted with
humble exempla related to Trebius (he does not get any of the boar). When Trebius is |[232] related to mythological exempla, it is in contexts of degradation (25,
125). See also on 10021
1 TE Trebius (19, 135).
PROPOSITI (i.e. cf. 9.21, 10.325), BONA SUMMA (poetic plural for
the prose phrase summum bonum; cf. on 4.11, 9.118) Juvenal uses the language of
ethical discussion to parody Trebius ignoble standards.
EADEM EST MENS Hor. Epist. 1.1.4.
2 QUADRA A quarter of a loaf, the bread being scored into four parts for
breaking up (Andr 712, Marquardt 420, Blmner2 1.88).

SATIRE FIVE199

ALIENA alienus cibus of parasites Plaut. Capt. 77, Ter. Eun. 265.
3 SI POTES ista PATI Mart. 11.23.15.
SARMENTUS provides full information about him (the mention of forma
makes it probable that the man mentioned in Plut. Ant. 59.8 is identical). He appears in Hor. Serm. 1.5.52 sqq. as a scurra; cf. also Haffter Hermes 87, 1957, 94,
Treggiari 271.
GABBA Mart. 1.41.15, 10.101 and cf. on 1.557 above; he also seems to be mentioned in Plut. Quaest. Symp. 8.6.1.726a, and Quintil. 6.3 quotes several of his jokes
(his name has usually been corrupted). Like Sarmentus, he was a scurra associated
with Augustus and Maecenas.
CAESARIS Augustus.
INIQUAS This is something which one cannot usually pati (1.30). It indicates
that distinctions were made between the guests, the scurrae being viles; there was
no aequa libertas (8.177), mensa communis (Pliny Pan. 49) at the cenae of this rex
(on 1.136).
5 Cf. Plaut. Amph. 437, Cic. Ad Att. 1.16.10, 13.28.2.
6 FRUGALIUS More easily satisfied.
7 PUTA Cf. 2.153 (also followed by a question); a paratactic condition.
8 You could at least beg, which would be better than being a parasite.
CREPIDO The steps of public buildings and raised footpaths (cf. SG 2.223 =
2.375); these (Val. Max. 4.3 ext. 4) and bridges (on 4.116) were the haunts of beggars, cf. Housman on Manil. 4.48.
TEGETIS PARS A scrap of a mat ( or ; Aristoph. Frogs 567) on
which the beggars would sit or lie (9.140; cf. 6.117).
9 INIURIA CENAE The insult consisting in a dinner, cena iniuriosa. Cf. Ammianus AP 9.573.2.
IEIUNA FAMES Ovid Met. 8.791, Il. Lat. 397.
TANTI TAM ut illa patiaris quae nec Sarmentus nee Gabba tulisset: POSSIT
fames tua, i.e. tu esuriens possis; ILLIC in crepidine vel ponte. |[233]
HONESTIUS is paradoxical and hyperbolical.
TREMERE 6.543 is perhaps comparable; cf. frigora 14.318.
11 SORDES FARRIS i.e. sordidum far, with a high bran-content. For panis sordidus () cf. Marquardt 419, Blmner2 1.78 n. 6, Voigt Rh. Mus. 31, 1876, 122
n. 38; even at the patrons meal Trebius hardly gets any better (67 sqq.). For FAR
CANINUM cf. Mart. 10.5.5, 4.53.6 (with a special point), Sen. Contr. 1.7.18; canicae
Lucil. 711 and Paul. Fest. 46. Dogs were fed on bread made from barley and bran
(Varro RR 2.9.10, Phaedr. 4.18.4), cf. Moritz 177; they were not given much meat
(West on Hes. Op. 604). See also on 70.
12 PRIMO The deinde is not expressed in 24; see on 2.4.
FIGE i.e. pone; cf. Quintil. 5.12.14, 7.1.10.
IUSSUS invited; so often . Verg. Aen. 1.708 toris iussi discumbere,

200A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Petron. 21 iussi ergo discubuimus, Ovid Met. 12.212.

13 Payment in full for your long-standing (1.132) attendance (2.132; cf. 1920
below). Cf. Sen. Dial. 9.7.2.
14 AMICITIAE MAGNAE Cf. 4.74 and on 1.33.
IMPUTAT As 6.179, he takes the credit for it; but at 2.16 it means to attribute
blame. Both senses are book-keeping metaphors (to set down to someones account) common in Silver Latin. Here it harmonises with FRUCTUS (revenue)
and MERCEDEM; social relations are reduced to mercantile terms, cf. p. 21.
REX 130, 161, 137; see on 1.136.
16 ADHIBERE 2.135 and often.
17 Three per couch being the usual number (on 3.82). Cf. Phaedr. Append. 15.8
sponda cessabit tua.
CULCITA On which he would lean his left arm while reclining.
18 UNA SIMUS These are the only words spoken by Virro to his guest; it is
quite a polite formula.
VOTORUM SUMMA Cf. 166 (spes bene cenandi), 1.133, Mart. 12.48.2 (cf. on
135); recalling the summa bona of 2. This with its ellipse and the next brief sentence
mirror Trebius excitement.
19 HABET TREBIUS A sarcastic change to the third person; preaching at him
will do no good in this state of bliss. Cf. 13.16, Donatus on Ter. Andr. 877.
RUMPERE SOMNUM Cf. 3.127 (and ibid. 128 sqq. with SOLLICITUS 20), 239;
Sen. Dial. 10.14.4, Mart. 12.26.7 sqq.; for the morning salutatio, cf. Marquardt 259.
20 LIGULAS DIMITTERE Leave his shoe-laces untied, flying in all directions,
because he has not had time to tie them; cf. Blmner1 225 and horridus Mart. 3.36.3.
ORBEM Their round of visits, cf. 1.121; they have more than one patron (Marquardt 259). |[234]
SALUTATRIX TURBA Cf. 4.62, 15.81.
22 SIDERIBUS DUBIIS They are waning (Tarrant on Sen. Ag. 457) just before
dawn; cf. Val. Fl. 2.72.
PIGRI Bootes takes a long time to set, which in winter he does about dawn, because he does so in a roughly perpendicular position; Hom. Od. 5.272
. Cf. Mart. 8.21.3 pigra Bootae / plaustra, Ovid Fasti 3.405 piger ille Bootes.
Here however AUT seems to suggest that Juvenal is, with deliberate exaggeration
(cf. 7.222), thinking of midnight; cf. Anacreontea 33.13
/ (= serraca) / and Housman
on Manil. 5.693.
FRIGIDA suggests both proximity to the pole and the chill of dawn.
SERRACA (3.255) An undignified. (Quintil. 8.3.21) word for the usual plaustra
(as Mart. l.c.), deliberately incongruous with the surrounding elevated diction.
24 SUCIDA LANA Wool with the natural oil (lanolin) still in it, the opposite
of lota lana. This was used like cotton-wool to apply wine or vinegar (acetum)

SATIRE FIVE201

for medical treatment; Pliny NH 29.30, Celsus passim, Khns index to Galen
s.v. lana, Blmner2 1.107 n. 6 (correct the Vegetius references to Book 3 and add
Colum. 7.5.18). The implication then is that Virros wine is worse than the poor
wine which would be used for this purpose, worse even than acetum.
25 CORYBANTA Cf. Posidippus ap. Athen. 9.377b.
VIDEBIS You means anybody, cf. 1.91, but TORQUES means Trebius. Cf.
on 54; likewise aspice 14.275 seems to be general in the middle of particulars. To
avoid this Ribbeck 140 proposed torquet (sc. conviva) and H. Valesius altered DE
(for which cf. 7.197) to te e.
26 IURGIA PROLUDUNT 15.512; Alexis ap. Athen.
10.421ab; CIL 4.7698 = CEL 2054 odiosaque iurgia differ, an inscription in a triclinium. PROLUDERE (and evidently also praeludere: Pliny Ep. 6.13.6, Rut. Nam.
1.257) is to skirmish, contrasted with pugnare, Cic. Div. Caec. 47, De Or. 2.325; Laus
Pison. 87.
27 SAUCIUS If this goes with the preceding it means drunk, as often; but it
is more likely to go with the following. RUBRA is proleptic. A brawl is one of the
regular features of Symposion-Literatur, e.g. Lucil. 2237, Lucian Symp.
28 VOS You, Trebius, and your fellow-clients; cf. 166 and on 8.126. COHOR
TEM maintains the military metaphor.
SAGUNTINA Pliny NH 35.160 and often the Spaniard Martial; cf. Charlesworth
166, Blmner3 132, Marquardt 6612, ES 3.174.
LIBERTORUM If freedmen did not actually live with their patron (Blmner1
298 n. 11, Marquardt 203; cf. Plaut. Men. 1034), they might often be invited to dine
with him (e.g. Pliny Ep. 2.6 quoted |[235] in introduction; but not by Augustus,
Suet. 74); a libertini locus Petron. 38. But with a large party such as is envisaged
here only Virro and the other Virrones (149) would sit at the top table, and the clients and freedmen would be seated separately, cf. Cic. Ad Att. 13.52 (libertis minus
lautis servisque nihil defuit, nam lautiores eleganter accepti implies some kind of
gradation in Ciceros hospitality).
PUGNA COMMISSA LAGONA For such brawls cf. Lucil. l.c. on 27; Lucian
Symp. 445, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 1.27.1.
30 IPSE , the host Virro; indicating the dominus, as often in this poem
and elsewhere (Thes. 344.14). He has the vinum dominicum (Petron. 31.2).
DIFFUSUM 11.159; sc. vinum. The amphorae or cadi would have a ticket or
inscription on them giving the consuls of the year in which the wine was bottled
and the place from which it came (34); cf. Petron. 34, Lucan 4.379 nobilis ignoto
diffusus consule Bacchus, MarescalchiDalmasso 34, Marquardt 4613, Blmner1
152. Many specimens will be found CIL 4 p. 169 sqq., 15 p. 657 sqq., M. H. Callender Roman Amphorae (1965) 722, 37. In contrast to this the clients vin ordinaire
is anonymous.
CAPILLATO Therefore ancient; on 4.103. Martial even exaggerates to regal

202A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

wine 3.62.2, 13.111.

31 Hor. Odes 3.14.18 cadum Marsi memorem duelli; for wine 200 years old cf.
Pliny NH 14.55.
CALCATAM By the feet of the workers; Blmner1 578.
32 sqq. After a meal like this the client (AMICO cf. 108) is likely to be dyspeptic
(CARDIACUS); but the patron will not send to him (cf. 108 and on 3.45) a glass
of wine, a recommended remedy for this in extreme cases (Pliny NH 23.50, 14.96;
Celsus 3.19.3 sqq. vini cyathum; Plut. Quaest. Symp. 3.5.652c, Athen. 1.10d, Pers.
3.92).
CYATHUM A ladle, as a measure of capacity 1/12 of a sextarius (on 6.426).
MISSURUS Conditional (on 4.9); nunquam mittat si amicus cardiacus sit.
33 For the wines of Alba and Setia cf. 6.O.15, 10.27, 13.21314 etc. Housman,
whose punctuation links 32 with 33, points out that these vintages would be of a
type to help the dyspepsia.
34 TITULUS The notice would include the PATRIA as well as the date (30;
though even in the days of Opimian wine the varieties were not noted, Pliny NH
14.94), so there is a kind of hendiadys.
SENECTUS Cf. 13.214.
35 The wine was placed to mature in a fumarium (Mart. 10.36.1) where smoke
was allowed to circulate (Marquardt 458, Blmner1 71, Billiard 521 sqq., MarescalchiDalmasso 31); cf. Stat. Silv. 4.8.39 Albanoque cadum sordentem promere fumo.
|[236]

TESTA The clay amphora (cf. Horace quoted on 31); of a dolium 14.311.
36 P. Clodius Thrasea Paetus and his son-in-law Helvidius Priscus were respectively condemned to death and sent into exile in A.D. 66, and the latter was put to
death by Vespasian. They were Stoic leaders of opposition and outspoken champions of libertas (Wirzubski 138 sqq.); Virro, who is a rex, defiles their favourite wine
by drinking it. Thrasea wrote a book on Cato (Plut. Cato Min. 25, 37), and they are
coupled with Cato and Brutus, who were also Stoics, by Marc. Aurel. 1.14 (another
Stoic himself). Cassius and M. Brutus were the great liberatores; here D. Brutus
is also included, cf. Tac. Ann. 1.10 Cassii et Brutorum exitus, 16.22.5 Brutorum aemulos (in the context of an exile of a Cassius, cf. ch. 7.2), Pliny Ep. 1.17.3 imagines
Brutorum, Cassiorum, Catonum (rhetorical plurals). [Corrigendum, on p. 251 of
original: In spite of his Stoic connections, Brutus was an Academic in philosophy.]
Birthdays of the dead were often celebrated in commemoration, cf. Sen. Ep.
64.8, Suet. Dom. 10.3.
CORONATI Cf. 15.50, 6.297.
38 HELIADUM CRUSTAS Cups overlaid with amber (Mart. 9.13.6 gemma Heliadum), cf. on 14.307 and Blmner1 409.
INAEQUALES aspera 14.62.
INAEQUALES BERULLO The only verse in Juvenal ending in three spondees,

SATIRE FIVE203

which is generally uncommon; Ovid Met. 1.117 et inaequales autumnos. The rare
rhythm matches the rare objects.
PHIALAS Broad shallow cups; Marquardt 651, Blmner1 405, Hilgers 74 and
250.
AURUM This is the material on which the amber and gems are set; legal quibble on the proportions of silver and amber in vessels, Paulus Dig. 34.2.32.5. These
are , pocula gemmata (Blmner1 393 and 408, Marquardt
706), cf. 434, 10.267; praepositus ab auro gemmato CIL 6.87346 (cf. Boulvert
237), the CUSTOS here (cf. Mart. 14.108, 12.74.7, Cic. 2 Verr. 4.33).
41 No doubt this is an indignity for the client, but it was not an unnecessary
precaution; for stealing of cups cf. Mart. 8.59.7 and the historically documented
case of T. Vinius (Plut. Galba 12.2, Suet. Claud. 32, Tac. Hist. 1.48).
UNGUES Which may prise off the gems.
42 ILLI LAUDATUR The gold cup has a jasper which is praised. This type of
brachylogy, in which the notion <est et> has to be understood, is common with
verbs of saying and calling (HS 210, Svennung Eranos 50, 1952, 71); cf. also Tac.
Germ. 44.1 Trans Lugios Gotones regnantur. For the dative in reference to an inanimate thing cf. 15.20. The jasper is named because he is thinking of Aen. 4.261 illi
(= Aeneae) stellatus iaspide fulva / ensis erat, referred to in 445. |[237]
434 Cf. Mart. 14.109. UT MULTI Cf. 113.
445 In Vergil the jasper is on the sword, not on the scabbard. Such finery in
the old days was used for martial purposes, cf. pugnacis 57 and 11.1009; but nowadays Rome is degenerate.
PONER ZELOTYPO (on 6.278). Cf. Hoenigswald TAPA 80, 1949, 278 and
add Varro Sat. Men. 92.2 fragmin zonae, Manil. 3.625; 8.107 shows the opposite
metrical feature. Zeta was not always pronounced as a double consonant in Latin;
cf. SaguntumZacynthos (on 15.114), zonasona in early Latin (W. M. Lindsay The
Latin Language (1894) 104).
QUAS He does not mean that Virros gems are identical with those of Aeneas,
but that Virro has gems on his cups as Aeneas had on his scabbard. For this loose
use of the relative pronoun cf. 153 (and petitas 9.149, gestamen 2.99); Cic. De Leg.
3.47, Pro Mil. 69; Sall. Iug. 6.3; Verg. Aen. 8.99; Hor. Serm. 2.3.275; Mart. 10.62.9;
Tac. Hist. 5.13.1, Dial. 38 init.; often in Seneca.
46 The traditional type of poetic periphrasis to avoid calicem Vtnnum, and
also to carry on the epic aura of 445 while contrasting with the humble content.
The deformed Vatinius had begun life as a cobbler at Beneventum and then become powerful at Neros court, Tac. Ann. 15.34. These cups were called after him
presumably because there were faces moulded round the glass with long noses
like his. Cf. Mart. 14.96 vilia sutoris calicem monumenta Vatini / accipe; sed nasus
longior ille fuit; this is contrasted with the phiala (cf. Juv. 39) aurea caelata of no.
95. For the genitive of quality combined with an adjective cf. on 3.4

204A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

SICCABIS CALICEM Hor. Serm. 2.6.68.

48 Mart. 10.3.34 quae sulphurato nolit empta ramento / Vatiniorum proxeneta
fractorum. There were peddlars at Rome who gave sulphur-tipped matches (Mart.
12.57.14, Sen. NQ 1.1.8) in exchange for broken glass (Mart. 1.41.3, Stat. Silv. 1.6.73),
evidently intended for use in mosaics (Smyth CR1 61, 1947, 46).
49 FERVET VINO Cf. 4.138, Sen. NQ 4.13.5 sqq. (cf. on 52).
-QUE -QUE Cf. 6.424, 7.34, 10.152, 14.219 and 222. All of these instances are
at the end of the line, a favourite place in hexameters.
50 DECOCTA sc. aqua; water first boiled to purify it and then cooled with
snow, supposed to be an invention of Nero (so Suet. 48; but it was known before
him, Athen. 3.122e). Cf. SG 2.142 = 2.281, Marquardt 333, Blmner1 402, R. J. Forbes
Studies in Ancient Technology 6 (1958) 113.
GETICIS PRUINIS Mart. 11.3.3 and often Ovid.
QUEREBAR Cf. Cic. Pro FIacco 22.
ALIAM AQUAM Cf. Sen. NQ 4.13.4 (see on 49), Pliny NH 19.55. |[238]
52 CURSOR A groom, whose normal duty is to run in front of his owners
carriage (cf. SG 1.288 = 1.344, Marquardt 14950 and 170, Blmner1 466) is fetched
from the stable to wait on the client; cf. Cic. In Pis. 67 servi sordidati ministrant,
non nulli etiam senes; idem coquus, idem atriensis. At Lucian Symp. 15 after an
attempt to bribe a handsome cup-bearer (the hand of one such is nudged by the
poor men at Saturn. 38) he is sent out and replaced by one of
, .
NOLIS Not Trebius (cf. 150), who would not be likely to drive around much,
but anybody, one; cf. on 25.
PER NOCTEM Cf. Sen. Apoc. 13.3; his ugliness makes him seem villainous.
For NIGRI ET CUI cf. on 14.229.
55 For night journeys cf. 10.20, 3.236.
MONUMENTA LATINAE Cf. 1.171; robbers would hide among the tombs.
CLIVOSAE Around Tusculum; Strabo 5.3.9.237.
56 FLOS ASIAE The most handsome slave from Asia cf. 11.147.
IPSUM is contrasted with TIBI 52; so 55 should end with a colon.
PRETIO MAIORE Cf. 60 and on 4.25; PARATUS on 3.224.
57 Hor. Odes 4.7.15 dives Tullus et Ancus; see on 445.
58 NE TE TENEAM Cf. Cic. 2 Verr. 1.34, Pro S. Rosc. 20; Sen. Ep. 124.20.
59 FRIVOLA 3.198; for riches. By comparison with Virro their
property was merely odds and ends.
QUOD CUM ITA SIT This prosy phrase is used by Cat. 68.37, Ovid Tristia
3.6.37; cf. Prop. 2.17.17.
GAETULUM GANYMEDEM An oxymoron (cf. 7.214). For Ganymede cf.
9.47, 13.42, Mart. 9.73.6; cup-bearers are commonly compared to him.
RESPICE Apul. Met. 10.17; he would stand behind the guests.

SATIRE FIVE205

61 PUER is contrasted with the Gaetulus Ganymedes, who is not a puer in age
(AETAS); so there should be a colon after SITIES.
MISCERE The water (63) and wine.
SED FORMA, SED AETAS Ovid Met. 3.455 nec forma nec aetas (of Narcissus);
is the regular term.
DIGNA SUPERCILIO They justify his disdain; cf. 6.169.
ILLE The Gaetulus Ganymedes; even he, let alone the flos Asiae, is inattentive.
63 sc. aquae. Both the hot (cf. Marquardt 333, Blmner1 401, Kleberg 104) and
the cold are to mix with the wine according to taste; cf. Mart. 14.105 frigida non
derit, non derit calda petenti, 1.11.3; Athen. 3.123e, Tac. Ann. 13.16.2. For Ribbecks
proposed deletion of this line see BICS 22, 1975, 150. |[239]
64 Cf. Mart. 3.58.434. The construction is indignatur parere indignaturque
quod poscas.
VETERI CLIENTI 1.132; because he is vetus (cf. 13) he is taken for granted.
66 This line seems inoffensive if it is ended with a colon so that it looks forward
to the superbia shown in 6779; cf. BICS 22, 1975, 153.
67 ECCE ALIUS 12.24; PORREXIT in the canistra of 74.
68 VIX FRACTUM This may mean (1) which has been broken with great difficulty, being stale and hard; but frangere panem is an operation which the guests
would normally perform themselves (10.200, Plaut. Poen. 729, Curtius 4.2.14), (2)
which can be broken only with great difficulty; then fractum will supply the place
of an adjective in -bilis, as invictus invincible (usually with negatived participles like this) etc., cf. HS 392, Naegelsbach 72b. (3) Duff suggests as a possibility
which you break only with difficulty, pointing out that the perfect participle can
be used to supply the missing present participle passive (cf. 15.80); but even a present participle would be harsh here. So (2) seems best.
MUCIDA FRUSTA 14.128; farina is the flour made from far.
ADMITTENTIA Cf. 3.235.
70 SILIGINE The finest flour, cf. 6.472, Mart. 9.2.34, Pliny NH 18.856 etc.
TENER Sen. Ep. 123.2.
NIVEUS The technical term would be candidus (Blmner1 163 and 2 1.77 n. 4,
Andr 71 n. 206, Voigt Rh. Mus. 31, 1876, 122; cf. Colum. 2.9.13).
72 ARTOPTAE The bread-pan, ; as usual the Greek word is used
mockingly. Cf. Moritz 2089, Andr 6970, Blmner2 1.813, RE s.v. Bread was
sometimes served hot in the pans in which it had been baked (in a clibanus Petron.
35).
FINGE TAMEN 8.195; a paratactic condition.
IMPROBULUM somewhat audacious; cf. on 6.425.
SUPEREST i.e. superpositus est, , is in charge.
74 VIS TU is often used in a peremptory command (be so good as to), whereas visne 10.90 is merely a question; cf. KS 2.505, HS 4601 and 467.

206A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

IMPLERI Petron. 16.1.

COLOREM nigrum, cf. 11, the opposite of niveus 70.
769 Cf. 19 sqq.; now Trebius himself spontaneously admits what Juvenal has
been telling him (note PROPTER QUOD in both places).
FUERAT i.e. fuit; cf. 9.96, 10.272, 15.16.
77 MONTEM GELIDASQUE ESQUILIAS i.e. Esquilinum montem, with hendiadys. There was a steep slope from the Subura up to the porta |[240] Esquilina
(Mart. 5.22.15); the Esquiline was an area of great houses (3.71, 11.51).
CUCURRI Cf. 3.128.
GRANDINE VERNUS On spring hail cf. Sen. NQ 4.4.1, Aristotle Met. 1.12.1;
for spring rain cf. 4.87.
IUPPITER The sky-god controls the weather, cf. Latte 79, Wissowa 113 and 120
n. 10, Haupt 2.171, Gross (on 7.25) 360; see the remark of the elder Cato cited by
Plut. 21.5, and Calp. Sic. 5.45 dum peragit vernum Iovis inconstantia tempus (pater
vernus is conjectured in Pervig. Ven. 60).
PAENULA An overcoat used in rainy weather; RE s.v., Marquardt 564,
Blmner1 215, Wilson 87, Kolb Rm. Mitt. 80, 1973, 89.
80 DISTINGUAT may mean (1) marks out, reserves for the host, (2) parts in
two, (3) sets off with its bright red colour and size, cf. Sen. Contr. 9.2.6 distinguuntur argenteis poculis aurea.
SQUILLA See Thompson2 s.v. ; the name embraces various kinds of
prawn, but here seems to indicate a bear-crab, lobster or crawfish. Cf. Blmner1
189 n. 16.
SAEPTA Cf. constrictus 84.
ASPARAGIS Cf. Macrob. Sat. 3.13.12 turdum asparagos subtus.
CONVIVIA the company; poetic plural (cf. 11.150) and abstract for concrete
(= convivas; cf. cena 2.120, Prop. 4.6.71 (?), and HS 747, KS 1.82). It seems to look
down scornfully on the clients from its elevation; they are despised by the very fish
as well as the servants.
84 CAMMARUS The crayfish, inferior to the squilla; cf. Andr 105, Thomson2
s.v. It is contrasted with the rich mans mullet by Mart. 2.43.12; Apicius 2.1.3 gives
a recipe for isicia de scillis vel de cammaris AMPLIS.
DIMIDIO OVO Mart. 5.78.5 divisis cybium latebit ovis, 10.48.11, 11.52.78;
Alexis ap. Athen. 2.60a.
FERALIS CENA Apul. Flor. 19.6 suggests that this phrase refers to the victuals
placed on the pyre (Catull. 59.3, Verg. Aen. 6.225). It is usually taken to indicate
the cena novemdialis, a simple meal placed on the grave nine days after burial and
often including eggs, many of which have been found in tombs (Marquardt 380,
Blmner1 50910, RE Bestattung 358.54, RAC Ei 738). F. Bmer Ahnenkult (Arch.
Rel.-Wiss. Beiheft 1, 1943) 130 takes the word PATELLA also to have funereal associations.

SATIRE FIVE207

EXIGUA For the combination of this with a diminutive cf. 11.144 and HS 776.
86 Hor. Serm. 2.4.50 quali perfundat pisces securus olivo.
VENAFRANO sc. oleo; Venafrum in Samnium was famous for fine olive oil. |[241]
AT HIC QUI Other lines end in three monosyllables at 14.114, 143.
CAULIS The poor mans food (1.134), contrasted with the asparagus of 82.
PALLIDUS Colourless, cf. Automedon AP 11.325.2 = GowPage GP 1550
(yellow shoot of cabbage); they were made green
artificially (Pliny NH 19.143, Colum. 11.3.23, Marquardt 324, RE Kochkunst 959).
OLEBIT LANTERNAM Hor. Serm. 1.6.123 unguor olivo, / non quo fraudatis
immundus Natta (who in Juvenal becomes Boccar) lucernis; 2.2.59 cuius odorem
olei nequeas perferre caulibus instillat; 2.3.125.
ALVEOLIS Plates; 7.73.
89 CANNA The word in this application must originally have meant a reed
boat (cf. Val. Fl. 2.108), but here evidently a larger ship is intended (a gandeia,
according to Probus; see WaldeHofmann s.v.).
MICIPSARUM Micipsa was the son of Masinissa and king of Numidia; the
generic plural here means M. and his family or African kings.
SUBVEXIT Has brought up the Tiber, the opposite of devectum 7.121; the good
Sabine oil (3.85) came down the Tiber. For this African oil cf. Pliny NH 15.8, Stat.
Silv. 4.9.11, Loane 256, ES 4.61, M. Rostovzeff Social and Economic History of the
Roman Empire2 (1957) 2023, L. Foucher Hadrumetum (1964) 1426; its production was encouraged by Trajan and Hadrian.
PRORA ACUTA Cf. Foucher 143 n. 467 for this type of boat.
BOCCAR This name is a variant at Livy 29.30.1; Ampelius 36.2 has Boccor
meaning Barca.
91 The genuineness of this line is hardly open to doubt; for the accumulation
of description in 8891 cf. 347 and 1502. We are reminded of the Homeric dilations on the history and value of precious objects, here parodied by application to
this vile oil. The Psylli were said to have in their bodies a virus exitiale serpentibus
et cuius odore sopirent eos (Pliny NH 7.14); perhaps Juvenal had heard a distorted
account of this.
ATRIS Cf. Verg. Georg. 1.129, Aen. 4.472; also a variant at Hor. Serm. 2.8.95.
92106 Virro has two fish, the client only one (AUT 104). The muraena, murry
or lamprey, is a long thin fish contrasted with the eel (103), while the mullet corresponds to the lupus (104). For the association of muraena and eel cf. Macrob. Sat.
3.15.7, for the MULLUS see on 4.15.
MISIT Cf. 119, 6.466.
RUPES These would produce the saxatilis mullus (Mart. 10.37.7, Sen. NQ 3.18.4,
Colum. 8.17.8). |[242]
936 This is rather verbose and straggling; Juvenal could have with advantage
cut it down.

208A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

NOSTRUM MARE = Tyrrhenum 96 = proxima 95; usually it means the Mediterranean in general. Cf. Macrob. Sat. 3.16.10 nec contenta illa ingluvies fuit maris
sui copiis, but scari were brought from the Troad (Pliny NH 9.62).
PERACTUM Cf. Pers. 6.22, Mart. 5.70.4; Pliny NH 9.68 also implies the fact.
DUM With a causal implication; on 6.176.
GULA Gell. 6.16.6 peragrantis gulae industria; Petron. 119.33.
SAEVIT Cf. 14.148, 15.100.
SCRUTANTE Sen. Ep. 89.22 (also with gula), Dial. 12.10.2 and 5.
MACELLO Cf. 11.10 and 64, 6.40; here it means macellarii.
96 The fish are caught before they grow up.
97 PROVINCIA Cf. 4.26.
98 Chiastic order. CAPTATOR Cf. 6.40 (see on 95), 4.1821 and on 3.128.
VENDAT for edat; she is avaricious as well as rich and sells
the expensive fish. An Aurelia was pestered by the captator Regulus (Pliny Ep.
2.20.10), but she was not so disreputable as this. The lawyer at Mart. 12.72.56 sells
his rewards in kind (for which see Juv. 7.119).
LAENAS Probably a Popilius or Octavius.
99 GURGITE DE SICULO Cf. Blmner1 183 n. 10, Marquardt 434 n. 10, Andr
102, ES 3.283 (add Clem. Alex. Paed. 2.1.3 p. 155 St.).
1002 Auster (a wind dangerous to those who sail in search of luxuries 14.267)
stirs up Charybdis; Ovid Met. 8.121, Sen. Dial. 6.17.2, Ep. 14.8. All this is in fine epic
style (note the near-golden line 102), contrasted with 1036; see introduction fin.
CARCERE 10.181; Ovid Met. 11.4312 Hippotades qui carcere fortes / contineat ventos. For SE CONTINET cf. 10.79.
MADIDAS It is a wet wind; Ovid Met. 1.264 madidis Notus evolat alis.
CONTEMNUNT Cf. 6.90 and Sen. Ep. 14.8 adduced above.
LINA Nets (4.45) made from flax.
103 The eel is made as unattractive as possible by insisting on its relationship to
the snake (cf. Varro De Ling. Lat. 5.77), though it was in fact quite well-liked (cf.
Andr 99). For LONGAE cf. 6.431.
1046 The following quotations are relevant to the interpretation and emendation of this passage:
Pliny NH 9.169 eadem aquatilium genera aliubi atque aliubi meliora, sicut lupi
pisces in Tiberi amne inter duos pontes.
Hor. Serm. 2.2.31 unde datum sentis, lupus hic Tiberinus an alto / captus hiet,
pontesne inter iactatus an amnis / ostia sub Tusci? |[243]
Colum. 8.164 fastidire docuit fluvialem lupum nisi quem Tiberis adverso torrente defatigasset.
id. 8.17.8 sine macula (nam sunt et varii) lupos includemus (in piscinae).
Xenocrates (Physici et Medici Graeci Minores ed. J. L. Ideler (1841) p. 122) 6
, .

SATIRE FIVE209

Macrob. Sat. 3.16.1118 quid stupemus captivam illius saeculi gulam servisse
mari, cum in magno vel dicam maximo apud prodigos honore fuerit Tiberinus lupus et omnino omnes ex hoc amni pisces? M. Varro pisci Tiberino palmam
tribuit his verbis in libro Rerum Humanarum xi, ad victum optima fert piscem
Tiberis. Haec Varro de omnibus scilicet huius fluminis piscibus; sed inter eos
praecipuum locum lupus tenuit, et quidem is qui inter duos pontes captus esset. Id
ostendunt cum multi alii tum etiam C. Titius, vir aetatis Lucilianae, in oratione qua
legem Fanniam suasit quid mihi negoti est cum istis nugatoribus potius quam
edimus lupum germanum qui inter duos pontes captus fuit? Haec Titius. Sed et
Lucilius ostendit scire se hunc piscem egregii saporis qui inter duos pontes captus
esset, eumque quasi ligurritorem catillonem appellat, scilicet qui proxime ripas
stercus insectaretur Lucilii versus hi sunt (ducebat) hunc pontes Tiberinus
duo inter captus catillo (1176).
From this it emerges that the fish meant is the lupus or , the sea-bass.
This sometimes comes up rivers, and the best were those which had done this
and been caught inter duos pontes, which presumably, since this is an old name
for the insula Tiberina between the pons Cestius and the Fabricius (RE Tiberina
insula, PlatnerAshby 282, Lugli 2 p. 136, Hirst PBSR 14, 1938, 143), means round
the insula. This then like the eel was quite a well-liked fish, but Juvenal puts everything about it in a bad light. He represents the fish as contaminated by sewage,
specifying the unsavoury district of the Subura (3.5, 11.51); but since the cloaca
maxima debouches a little downstream from the insula, a lupus which had come
up-stream to the insula must have passed it. We are therefore inclined to suspect
that GLACIE ASPERSUS MACULIS also conceals some distortion. The spotted
lupi were evidently either the young ones or a separate variety, lupus punctatus;
but Juvenal suggests that the spots were due to putrefaction. The word GLACIE
however does not fit into this interpretation, and is presumably a corruption due
to 4.42. It must be replaced by a noun in the nominative, because there is no fish
called a Tiberinus; Galen De Alim. Fac. 3.29.6 (CMG 5.4.2 p. 369) has been quoted
to prove that there was, but Galen, like Varro in Macrobius, means the fish of
the Tiber generally (Thompson CR1 52, 1938, 166). The only emendation which
meets all criteria is Campbells glutto (CQ1 39, 1945, 46), which Juvenal will have
modelled on Lucilius catillo. The attestation of this noun looks unimpressive in
the Thesaurus, but at |[244] Pers. 5.112 it is the reading of all mss. except P and
should probably be accepted; at 4.28 Juvenal uses the verb gluttire. Attempts, to
me unconvincing, to defend GLACIE are made by Bradshaw CQ2 15, 1965, 121,
Giangrande Hermes 95, 1967, 118.
As the text stands, ET IPSE (cf. 11.62) must mean like Trebius, rather than like
the eel; the poor mans fish do not come from distant seas. Campbell however
reads the passage thus:
103 vos anguilla manet l.c.c.

210A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

106 et solita in mediae c.p.S.

104 aut glutto aspersus maculis Tiberinus et ipse
105 v.r.p.t.C.
This is zoologically more probable since the eel is much more likely to go up sewers than the lupus or any other fish; it gives more point to ET IPSE (like the eel);
and the corruption could be due to the omission of 106 because of the homoeoteleuton -ubrae, -urae. But the manuscript order gives a better climax.
TORRENTE Pliny NH 36.105. VERNULA Cf. on 1.26.
CRYPTA An underground drain at the far end of the cloaca maxima, which
runs from the Subura to the Tiber.
107 Cf. 14.21012.
PAUCA VELIM Ter. Andr. 29 paucis te volo; Plaut. Aul. 199.
FACILEM Cf. 3.122, Curtius 8.6.24; Hor. Serm. 1.1.22, Prop. 2.21.5.
MODICIS viles 146, minores Pliny Ep. 2.6 (see introduction).
MITTEBANTUR Cf. 32 and on 3.45.
109 For Piso and Seneca cf. Mart. 12.36.8, 4.40.12. C. Calpurnius Piso was executed in A.D. 65, and Seneca perished in the sequel; for Pisos generosity cf. Tac.
Ann. 15.48 and Laus Pis. 97 sqq. (a poem evidently known to Juvenal; see Eight,
intr.). Cotta is probably the man of 7.94, q.v.; for his generosity cf. CIL 14.2298
= CEL 990. The man of Tac. Ann. 13.34.1 is not likely to be meant, though he is
Neronian like Piso and Seneca.
BONUS Generous, as Mart. 12 l.c.
110 TITULIS Honorific inscriptions (1.129, 8.69 and 242, 10.143, 11.86).
To get the contrast between NEMO PETIT 108 and SOLUM POSCIMUS we
should punctuate thus largiri (namque gloria): solum
112 CIVILITER As an equal among equals; cf. on 127.
ESTO, ESTO An emphatic (con)duplicatio or geminatio, cf. p. 32. There is a
paratactic condition. FAC is the only legitimate spelling here.
113 DIVES TIBI Cf. Cic. De Off. 3.63, Plato Menex. 246e, Mart. 9.2.1 pauper
amicitiae cum sis, Lupe, non es amicae (the whole epigram is comparable). This is
luxuriae sordes 1.140.
114 For goose liver, foie gras, cf. Marquardt 431, RE Gans 716.31, |[245] Blmner1
177 n. 8, Andr 1323. Geese were and are crammed in such a way that liver disease
ensues and produces this delicacy; they were fed on figs (Pollux 6.49 etc., RE Feige
2136.54), foie being derived from ficus.
ANSERIBUS The plural is surprising in combination with ANSERIS and ALTILIS; perhaps one should emend to anseris et, though Juvenal does not elsewhere
clearly use the genitive after PAR (cf. KS 1.4489; see on 10.192).
ALTILIS sc. avis, a chicken kept in the dark and fattened on sweetened meal
(Varro RR 3.9.1921, Mart. 13.62), cf. Blmner1 177 n. 2.
FERRO i.e. venabulo.

SATIRE FIVE211

FLAVI MELEAGRI Iliad 2.642; he killed the Calydonian

boar. For the comparison with this cf. Mart. 7.27.12, 9.49, 13.93 and 41.2; note the
similar comparisons in Juv. 59 and 1512 and see introduction.
SPUMAT This word is often applied to the froth round the mouth of living
boars. This animal was served up head and all (cf. 1.140, Petron. 40, Pliny NH
8.210), and Juvenal suggests that it looks still alive; perhaps the froth was imitated.
Cf. Mart. 14.221.2 spumeus in longa cuspide (spit) fumat aper, which motivated s
interpolation here.
TUBERA Truffles, cf. 14.7; it was thought that thunder made them grow larger
(RE Pilze 1383) and that they were of best quality in the spring (see ibid.; for spring
storms cf. 78). For those from Africa cf. Pliny NH 19.34, whose source is Theophr.
fr. 167 ap. Athen. 2.62a.
11718 MAIORES If they shall add a dish to the meal; cf. 12.56.
TIBI HABE 3.187, FRUMENTUM LIBYE see on 8.117. The rich are indifferent to the provision of food for the poor.
MITTAS Cf. 92.
120 The structor, whose duty is properly to lay the dishes on the trays (struere;
cf. 7.184, Petron. 35), also carves (cf. 11.136, Mart. 10.48.15); he is identical with the
scissor or carptor (9.110). Cf. Marquardt 146, Blmner1 394.
INTEREA While the others are eating.
NE Ironical, cf. HS 837.
INDIGNATIO Cause for anger, provocation.
SPECTES Not just aspicias; he is a mere looker-on, a spectator, who gets none
of the meat. Cf. Mart. 1.20.1, 1.43.11.
CHIRONOMUNTA , gesticulating (like a ballet-dancer 6.63);
the Greek word as usual indicates contempt. Ancient dancing consisted largely
in movements of the arms (see Munro on Lucr. 4.790 and cf. Herod. 6.129
, where it is |[246] apparent that the word has become a fossil), so SALTANTEM need not imply much prancing around; ET is epexegetic.
For the elaborate ritual of carving cf. 11.136 sqq. (MAGISTRI = doctoris there, cf.
Sen. Dial. 7.17.2). Petron. 36.6 scissor gesticulatus laceravit obsonium.
122 DICTATA As if the instructions of a fencing-master, cf. 6.261; Hor. Epist.
1.18.13 puerum saevo credas dictata magistro / reddere.
OMNIA Emphatically placed; leaving nothing out.
SANE ironical; NEC MINIMO i.e. et mxm (et sane is a common combination, e.g. 15.61).
REFERT has become completely synonymous with ntrst (cf. on 6.657),
which Juvenal only has in the future at 14.73. The ablative DISCRIMINE seems
unique with this verb (KS 1.461).
GALLINA SECETUR 11.135 (where hares and boars are also mentioned), with
cultelli 133.

212A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

125 Verg. Aen. 8.264. DUCERIS Cf. 10.66.

126 He dare not remind Virro that he has not been served; cf. 159, 169.
SIQUID HISCERE Cf. Accius 157, Ovid Met. 13.231.
127 TAMQUAM NOMINA i.e. tamquam liber sis, cf. 1615 and Quintil.
7.3.27. Virro does not treat his clients as cives (112) but behaves as a rex (130);
Trebius does not possess the (libertas; 4.90) which goes with
(libertas). Plutarch wrote a work , (no. 100 in
the Lamprias catalogue), and uses as a technical term (Schulze LEG
488 n. 3, cf. Posidonius fr. 264 EdelsteinKidd); cf. Marquardt 810, Doer 1820
quoting Paus. 7.7.8. In fact it became normal for the Roman in the street to carry
three names only in the second half of the first century A.D., following the rule of
the aristocracy on one side and freedmen and enfranchised peregrini on the other.
PROPINAT One would first drink the toast which one had proposed, then pass
the cup to the friend whose health was being drunk; cf. Mart. 2.15, Sen. De Ben.
2.21.5, Blmner1 405, Marquardt 336, MarescalchiDalmasso 76.
SUMIT 10.26. CONTACTA Polluted, cf. 6.O.5 and 14; not just tacta (Ovid AA
1.575).
129 USQUE ADEO (going with PERDITUS also) After its adjective, cf. 6.1812.
PERDITUS Reckless, cf. 3.73, 8.212, 14.269; cf. 734 above.
PERTUSA LAENA Cf. 3.283 and 4851.
132 QUADRINGENTA The equestrian census, 1.106, 2.117, 14.326. For gifts of
money by a similis dis patron to bring a man up to the equestrian census cf. Pliny
Ep. 1.19.2, Mart. 4.67 and 5.25, CIL 14.2298 adduced on 109. |[247]
SIQUIS DEUS Cf. Cic. Lael. 87, Cato 83; Hor. Serm. 1.1.15, Petron. 100.4, Max.
Tyr. 15 (Hobein).1; a situation of fable.
SIMILIS DIS HOMUNCIO A paradoxical diminutive; he may be puny in comparison with a god, but he has the same power. Power for good and evil was regarded as one of the chief attributes of deity; this was readily transferred to men
with similar power (; cf. Sternbach Wien. Stud. 9, 1887, 199, Otto deus 7
and Nachtrge 55) and this notion became one of the roots of ruler-cult. Cf. Sen.
De Ben. 3.15.4 qui dat beneficia, deos imitatur; Ter. Phorm. 345 ea qui praebet, non
tu hunc habeas plane praesentem deum?; Charlesworth Harv. Theol. Rev. 28, 1935,
8 sqq.
MELIOR FATIS If the gods fail to give, the man who does give is kinder than
destiny. To us it seems self-contradictory that what destiny cannot do should yet
be done, but cf. on 14.248.
134 Petron. 38 de nihilo crevit.
QUANTUS AMICUS is like magnus amicus at Mart. 3.40.3, great friend in
the sense of close.
135 Virro addresses the servants (cf. Aristoph. Peace 771), then Trebius; for his

SATIRE FIVE213

interested hospitality cf. Mart. 12.48 (see on 18).

FRATER A term of familiarity, Thes. 1256.22, SG 4.83 = 4.84.
AB IPSIS ILIBUS The choicest part of the boar, cf. 167, Mart. 10.45.4, Blmner1
176 n. 8; previously Trebius had got none at all of it.
137 FRATER The mss. which offer this have probably conjectured it from 135,
but correctly. For the concord cf. Pliny Ep. 4.27.3 unus Plinius est mihi priores,
Mart. 5.38.7 unus cum sitis, Cic. Pro Caec. 62.
13745 The main cause of Virros treatment of his clients is money; amicitia has
become mercenary. This leads Juvenal to digress into an attack on legacy-hunting,
which however (particularly 1415) is not fully relevant. TUM (so read) in 138
means in that case, siquis deus donaret, and is countered by SED NUNC 141,
as matters now stand, (cf. Sen. NQ 1.3.4, where Z omits sed).
DOMINI REX Cf. 8.161; Mart. 2.18.8 qui rex est, regem, Maxime, non habeat.
DOMINUS again indicates the servile status of the guests.
13840 You must be orbus; cf. 6.38 sqq. Juvenal wittily adapts Verg. Aen. 4.328.
LUSERIT The ordinary prohibitive construction of the perfect subjunctive
with a negative (e.g. 14.48).
ILLO probably means Virrone, not filio.
140 A weak line which spoils the contrast, but not clearly spurious.
STERILIS Cf. Mart. 10.18.3; the opposite of fecunda, Hor. Serm. 2.5.31. |[248]
141 TUA MYCALE His coniunx 77. Trebius may have married a libertina, unless Juvenal has in mind Ovid Met. 12.263 mater erat Mycale and intends tua M.
like Tanaquil tua 6.566, tuus Endymion 10.318; but Mycale hardly seems prominent enough for that. We hear little of the family life of Juvenals clients, or of
parasites in general, but that in Plaut. Persa has a daughter.
TRES Cf. 12.95.
FUNDAT Cf. 2.33, Cic. In Pis. fr. 5 (contemptuously), Verg. Aen. 8.139 (in a
surprisingly elevated context); here it suggests the improvident fecundity of the
poor.
SEMEL i.e. uno puncto temporis, uno actu, cf. 6.521; cf. Paul. Sent. 4.9.2 quae
semel uno partu tres filios edidit; the opposite of per partes (Sen. Dial. 9.1.4) or per
gradus (id. NQ 4.2.25). Juvenal does not use simul, but instead employs pariter.
1423 Another Vergilian reference, Aen. 12.475 nidisque loquacibus. For
in a similar context see Theophr. Char. 2.6.
VIRIDEM THORACA A miniature chariot-drivers costume of the Greens, cf.
11.198. Ullman 281 takes it to mean a toy soldiers uniform covered with verdigris,
which makes it a cheap present conformably with the meanness shown in the
other gifts. A thorax is a woollen under-vest at Suet. Aug. 82, thoracia are female
garments Lucil. 71.
NUCES Nuts were used in many childrens games (Blmner1 309, Marquardt
839, DS s.v., Vterlein 34, RAC Gesellschaftsspiele 8678) and also of course eaten

214A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

by them; there was often a sparsio of nuts to children at festivals. Stob. 4.430.18
mentions a host who gave them to the children of his slaves at feasts; cf. the story
of Archytas in Aelian VH 12.15 (also referred to at Athen. 12.519b, where the text
seems corrupt).
MINIMAS Walnuts would be usual, but the mean Virro is content with hazel-nuts; likewise he only gives pennies when they are requested, and his attitude
is indicated by the sneer implicit in PARASITUS INFANS (cf. Ter. Ad. 779 parasitaster paullulus).
MENSAM sc. Virronis.
146 VILIBUS Cf. 4; they are contrasted with the quantus amicus which the
enriched Trebius would become (1334).
ANCIPITES Dangerous; Pliny NH 22.96 tertium genus (fungorum) suilli venenis accommodatissimi quae voluptas tanta tam ancipitis cibi?, Mart. 3.60.5 sunt
tibi boleti, fungos ego sumo suillos.
147 Mart. 1.20.4 boletum qualem Claudius edit edas, cf. Juv. 6.621. For successive lines ending in the same word cf. 7.1434.
SED (talis) QUALES, cf. 1.80. SED probably means yes, and, et quidem, cf. on
4.27 and Mart. 1.107.3. Others take it, like the |[249] original in Martial, to imply a
curse, but unfortunately not the poisoned type; but a blunt curse like this is not
in Juvenals style.
ILLUM UXORIS Cf. KS 1.418.
149 VIRRONIBUS The guests (cf. 17) whom Virro treats as equals.
150 A man (anyone, cf. on 54) would find even their smell a meal in itself; cf.
Mart. quoted on 162.
151 For the apples of Alcinous cf. Hom. Od. 7.114 sqq. and Otto Alcinous 1; those
of the Hesperides (cf. 14.114 and Otto Nachtrge 86, 171, 247) are associated with
them by Mart. 10.94.1, 13.37, Priapea 16.24. Cf. on 115.
AUTUMNUS , fruit-time.
SUBREPTA Like those stolen from the Hesperides by Hercules.
153 SCABIE MALI i.e. scabioso malo, cf. 11 etc.; QUOD cf. on 44. The line describes a trained monkey (so ) dressed up as a soldier and riding on a goat, cf.
Mart. 14.202 callidus emissas eludere simius hastas (see also 128.2) and SG 2.70 =
2.86, RE Affe 707.12, Toynbee 578, Jennison 1289, McDermott 137. This performing monkey symbolises the degradation of Trebius.
FRUERIS An ironical word.
IN AGGERE See on 8.43 and 16.25. It was a favourite promenade and accordingly the resort of fortune-tellers (6.588) and showmen.
METUENS With genitive 7.210 etc.; the FLAGELLUM, the trainers whip, is
the stick, the MALUM is the carrot.
157 HOC AGIT UT DOLEAS He is deliberately (cf. 7.20, 48) annoying you.
QUAE COMOEDIA, MIMUS QUIS Chiastic. This could be said quite general-

SATIRE FIVE215

ly (cf. 6.O.27 and 608, 14.2567), but here specifically envisages the entertainments
put on at Roman dinner-parties, cf. on 11.179; for comoedi cf. Pliny Ep. 9.36.4 and
40.2, Marquardt 3378, Blmner1 410 n. 10, for mimes, which would be less respectable, Plut. Quaest. Symp. 7.8.712e, Macrob. Sat. 2.1.9. Likewise the audience
would divert Democritus more than the play according to Horace, Epist. 2.1.1978.
In what follows Trebius is like a comic parasite.
158 Cf. Plaut. Stich. 217. GULA A gourmet, cf. 14.10, 15.90 (?).
SI NESCIS let me tell you, cf. HS 826, Hofmann p. 200 addenda on 134. There
is an ellipse, si nescis, <ego tibi dico> omnia fieri, cf. on 15.89.
EFFUNDERE BILEM Cf. indignatio 120, iratis 1.146; the same phrase Sen. Dial.
4.26.3, cf. Juv. 13.143. A parasite cannot afford a display of gall, Diphilus
ap. Athen. 6.247c.
PER LACRIMAS non per os.
161 LIBER HOMO Cf. 8.177 and on 127 above; Mart. 2.55.3, 9.10; |[250] Epictet.
4.1.55. Trebius ignores that the proper correlative of rex is servus.
TIBI VIDERIS Mistakenly, cf. 9.467; he is not a CONviva in any true sense
(cf. on 1.135).
162 Mart. 1.92.9 pasceris et nigrae solo nidore culinae (cf. on 150); he is a
, .
CAPTUM Mart. 5.44.78, Hor. Serm. 2.7.38.
NUDUS Cf. 7.35 and tegetis 8, tremere 11; destitute.
164 BIS One experience of this treatment should be enough.
ETRUSCUM If he is free-born. All free-born children until puberty and
the assumption of the toga virilis wore an amulet as a protection against the evil
eye; among the better-off it would be in a gold locket (bulla), among the poorer
it would consist merely of a knot in a leather thong (for knot-amulets cf. Onians
367 n. 8), cf. [Ascon.] on Cic. 2 Verr. 1.152, where a boy de plebe is robbed of his
gold bulla and has to wear a leather amulet; Pliny NH 33.10, who says bulla aurea
ut eorum qui equo meruissent filii insigne id haberent, ceteri lorum; Macrob.
Sat. 1.6.914 in the Second Punic War concessum ut libertinorum quoque filii
togam praetextam et lorum in colla pro bullae decore gestarent. Cf. Juv. 13.33, 14.5;
Stat. Silv. 5.3.120 nobile pectoris aurum. The Romans considered that the use of
such bullae as protection against the evil eye came from Etruria, and a number
have been found in Etruscan graves. See RE (1048) and RAC s.v., Marquardt 846,
Blmner1 3056, Alfldi (on 7.192) 645, ERE Charms 462b, L. Bonfante Etruscan
Dress (1975) 143.
SIGNUM ingenuitatis; cf. insigne in Pliny l.c.
166 Cf. 1.133; VOS cf. 28.
LEPOREM 124, APRI 1.16 (Martial was also disappointed of this, 1.43), ALTILIS 114. For CLUNIBUS cf. on 135.
MINOR may mean smaller than the magnus altilis of 11415 or the altilis

216A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

smaller now that so much has been cut off it or too small for Virro.
169 STRICTO PANE for ense, cf. Com. Adesp. 649 K and E
/ ; this meal is a battlefield and the clients are ready
to engage the enemy, i.e. the food, cf. Varro Sat. Men. 102 discumbimus mussati,
dominus cenam committit (for the last word cf. Juv. 1.163).
TACETIS This is much more pointed than iacetis (with which cf. 8.173). It
takes up 15960; 1668 are their unspoken spes. With Ribbecks transposition (for
which see introduction) it leads up to hiscere 127.
171 VERTICE RASO You will one day act the morio (Pliny Ep. 9.17) or
with shaven head (Lucian Symp. 18, Artemidorus |[251] 1.22, Alciphron 3.7 (= 43).1) and receive all the cuffs. In the mime (cf. 157) the stupidi who
received the cuffs (cf. 8.1927) had shaven heads, like Satyrs or Sileni; cf. Arnob.
7.33 stupidorum capitibus rasis, salapittarum sonitu atque plausu, Galen CMG
5.10.2.2 p. 206.17, Manetho 4.2805 and 5 (6).104, RE Mimos 1748.22, and the parasite-masks in Bieber p. 100. Glosses explain alapiciosus by calvus, but there may
be some confusion here (cf. CGL 6.47a).
For the indignities inflicted on parasites at meals cf. Plaut. Capt. 889 and plagipatidae ibid. 472, the parasite family called Duri Capitones id. Pers. 60, Ter. Eun.
2434, the passages collected by Athen. 6.237d240c, Mart. 2.72, [Quintil.] Decl.
298 p. 178 Ritter, LSJ s.vv. , and the parasite-name
Alciphron 3.4 = 7; the parasite-mask had cauliflower ears (Pollux
4.148). At Pisos table (Laus Pis. 116) nullius subitos affert iniuria risus, whereas the
generality of patrons (1267) miserum parva stipe focilat, ut pudibundos / exercere
sales inter convivia possit.
1713 For a similar prophecy cf. 2.82.
PRAEBEBIS CAPUT adapts the phrase os praebere (Sittl 109 n. 3).
173 He will undergo a servile punishment (6.479, 10.109, 14.19) because, though
he regards himself as a liber homo (161), he is really a servus (3.125).
PATI For the iambic elision cf. 6.327.
AMICO A final irony (cf. 1.146) to conclude the poem and Book 1, which has
had so much to say about client and patron; it is in this book that the great majority of occurrences of this word is found (LaFleur Illinois Class. Stud. 4, 1979, 158).

[252]

Satire Six

This satire is addressed to a man called Postumus and tries to dissuade him from
his intention to marry. It is thus a (Five was also an
), though in fact in large part it becomes a (or rather a of married women); note that Stobaeus Ecl. 4.22 has as
part 2 (4.513 WH) and part 7 (4.550).
and are terms of rhetoric, and ducendane uxor (
in the Greek rhetors) is a thesis which personis modo adiectis becomes a suasoria
(Quintil. 2.4.25). It is however unprofitable to consider the poem in these terms;
no firm links can be forged with the rhetorical tradition as it survives.
The most interesting question about Juvenals antecedents is that concerning
his relationship with Senecas lost De Matrimonio. This problem is discussed in
detail in a note appended to this introduction, where the conclusion is reached
that the resemblances which have been detected are of interest only in showing the
existence of an inherited stock of misogynistic themes. This stock can be seen elsewhere too; e.g. [Lucian] (a work devoted to the comparison of hetero-and
homosexual love; cf. Juv. 337) 389 comments on the artificial use of cosmetics
and the ugliness of women first thing in the morning, 40 on their hair-dressing,
41 on their clothes and jewelry, 42 on their superstition (including
), their and meals. There are obvious correspondences to all these themes in Juvenal. Many writers had commented unfavourably
on women (e.g. Semonides, in catalogue form like Juvenal) or discussed marriage,
and occasional parallels are adduced in the notes; but here too the attempt to
study Juvenals poem in the light of a literary tradition is unprofitable, and it is
best considered in its own right.
The length of the poem alone gives it a special place in Juvenals work, and
when the development of the argument is |[253] considered in conjunction with
the vehemence of the denunciation of women it becomes hard to deny that Juvenal is spurred by genuine personal misogyny; and remarks in this direction can be
found in his other poems (10.321, 11.186 sqq., 13.1912), though of course it is hard
217

218A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

to judge how far they derive from a settled conviction. But his animus does reveal itself in details. At 4516 he expresses personal dislike (with an emphatic ego
which he was under no compulsion to insert) of the bluestocking, and reveals his
reason in the phrase ignotos mihi versus; such a woman makes him feel inferior,
and the only way he can find to compensate for this feeling is the assertion that
such things are beneath a mans attention. Again in 162 sqq. he argues that even
a completely perfect woman is intolerable because of pride (a heads-I-win, tailsyou-lose argument); but is it inevitable that a virtuous woman should be proud,
particularly with family pride, which is what Juvenal mentions in both his exempla, Cornelia and Niobe? Not every Roman married a noblewoman, and Juvenals
conjunctions show awareness that his complaints cannot be generalised; si 168,
quotiens 180. No, he gives the game away in 166; again his motive is consciousness
of inferiority. In mitigation it should be remembered that in this poem he has in
mind mainly upper-class women (see below); and also that considerable fire is
directed against the husbands.
Juvenal begins by claiming that whoever Postumus marries is sure to be unchaste. This emphasis on chastity prevails until 141, but even in this part of the
poem another note becomes perceptible in 30 ferre potes dominam?; the dominance which wives exercise over their husbands (43, 149, 2078, 224 etc.) and the
difficulty which husbands find in putting up with various aspects of their wives
behaviour (166, 184, 413, 432, 434, 460 etc.) become recurring themes. The contrasts of 357 also indicate other disadvantages (elaborated later in the poem) than
immorality.
The first paragraph (137) states that in view of the disappearance of chastity
Postumus must be mad to contemplate marriage. But, he continues (3859), even
the notorious adulterer Ursidius wants to marry, and wants to marry a chaste
woman; yet he of all men ought to be aware that chaste women are almost non-existent now. 60113: you wont find one in those places at Rome where crowds of
women are to be seen, the |[254] porticoes and the theatre, amphitheatre and circus. These were good places for getting to know women in the days of Propertius
and Ovid (see on 60); but nowadays women are less interested in male spectators
than in the actors, musicians and gladiators. 11435: even an empress (the social
climax; we have already passed from unimportant women to a senators wife 82)
has prostituted herself because of nymphomania; other crimes characteristic of
women, such as dabbling in magic and poisoning, fade into insignificance beside
those due to their lust (see on 1335).
Now with an Juvenal makes an interlocutor mention two seeming exceptions to his pessimism. 13641: Caesennias husband is perfectly content
with her: but it is her dowry that he really loves, and her side of the bargain is freedom to indulge her immorality. 14260: Sertorius genuinely does love Bibula: but
his love is purely physical and will not outlast the passing of her beauty. For the

SATIRE SIX219

time being she rules her husband and has all her extravagances satisfied. This last
instance shows Juvenal passing from his attack purely on the morals of women to
other unpleasant sides of their character, one of which, pride, is discussed in the
next paragraph (16183); it will be noted that he now (163) admits the possibility
that there may be chaste women in Rome, which (except for a hint in paucae
50) he had denied in 4562. This paragraph is introduced in continuation of the
dialogue between Juvenal and his interlocutor, and looks as if it may have been
designed originally to end the poem; compare how Ten, after various possibilities
have been dismissed, ends with a paragraph introduced nil ergo optabunt homines? The next paragraph in Six has no substantial stylistic or material link with
what precedes (though pudicitia reappears in 193); Juvenals indignatio has been
genuinely inflamed and he begins to look around for every stone to cast at women.
It is plain that this paragraph is an afterthought to his original scheme of structure
and has impaired it by its superimposition.
18499: even small faults, such as the use of Greek, annoy. 20030: a dilemma.
If you are not going to love your wife, why marry? If you are, she will oppress you
and desert you for other husbands. This paragraph has no link with 18499, but
is linked with what precedes that by the idea of not loving (139, 143, 1813; note
deditus 181 and 206). 23141: it is your mother-in-law |[255] who teaches your wife
to despoil you (232, linking with 210) and cuckold you (a return to the pudicitia
theme, also hinted at in the previous paragraph at 218). 24267: women even invade mens provinces by engaging in litigation (2425) and by exercising as gladiators. Realising that he is again drifting from the immediate point, Juvenal here
inserts a parenthesis (2524) in which he tries to link such masculine behaviour
with impudicitia (see the note for the precise interpretation of these lines and cf.
on 320; 3203 are like a male athletic contest). 26885: women feign jealousy to
cover their own infidelities, and if caught they defend themselves shamelessly,
asserting their rights (this repeats themes of 13641). From this summary it can
be seen that the last few items in Juvenals indictment, though thematic links do
appear, have been introduced in a disjointed way.
So far Juvenal has been adducing aspects and instances of female behaviour
which might deter a man from marriage. The deterrent basic to his theme, though
as we have seen he does tend to stray from it, is the lack of pudicitia; the other
recurring motif is that women are no longer subordinate to their husbands and
have in certain respects taken over the male role. Now he turns from description
of the state of affairs to analysis of the reasons for it (286351). His answer is the
eternal commonplace of Roman moralising, the picture of a small primitive state
in which work and war kept vice at bay until Rome was ruined by its own success
(some parallels from historians are quoted in the notes; see also D. C. Earl The
Moral and Political Tradition of Rome (1967) 1719); thus in this part, as in the
prologue and the conclusion with its mythological examples, the contrast between

220A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

past and present is emphasised. Once the whole orbis had been conquered (293)
and the pax Romana (292) had prevailed, the door was open to luxuria imported
from abroad; e.g. drunkenness (foreshadowed in 297). Now no longer castae (287;
note libido 294, venus ebria 300 which unites impudicitia and luxuria; Pudicitia
308 is connected with the old days by veterem, an echo of 14, and as the note
shows refers to an obsolete cult), women hold drunken orgies; even the rites of
the Bona Dea have turned into an orgy, and all women of whatever station are
the same (3468 are an interpolation; see below). 35265 describe a second aspect
of luxus, extravagance (the hint that |[256] Ogulnia hires gigolos, cf. 10.319, is not
pressed); paupertas, once the backbone of Roman virtus (295), is no longer effective. (O 134; the genuineness of the Oxford fragment is for the moment assumed)
A third aspect of luxus is the maintenance by women of cinaedi in their homes as
their general factotums. In this connection Juvenal twice (O 7 and 14) incidentally
mentions the husband, as in 312, with an apostrophe. The thought of the husband puts into his head another idea about the cinaedi, namely that they may be
adulterers in disguise, and he proceeds to discuss this (tibi in O 23 thus becomes
more integral than the previous apostrophes), though it is not really germane to
his argument in this part of the poem. The same inconsequence also colours the
treatment in the following sections. 36678 deal with the fondness of other women for eunuchs, this having been suggested by custodes O 32, since such custodes
were often eunuchs (e.g. Ovids Bagous). Eunuchs however are discussed not as
a display of wanton luxus, but as a means of safe satisfaction of their mistresses
lusts. If this paragraph followed directly on 365 we should be unable to account for
this; it should be remembered to Ribbecks credit that long before the discovery of
the O-fragment he had wished (Der Echte und der Unechte Juvenal 162) 36678 to
follow 348. When we insert the fragment, eunuchs follow naturally on cinaedi, the
immediate link being that of the wifes adultery with impunity (O 324 and 368).
The same attitude appears in 379, which accordingly repeats themes of 73 sqq., but
the rest of the paragraph lets it fade out and can hardly be said even to present
womens enthusiasm for music purely under the aspect of luxus, as I stated in
Mnem.4 15, 1962, 264; rather it is simply represented as one of the objectionable
features of women, in a manner comparable to 18499, or (discounting 2524)
24267. Note that 366 and 379 are both framed in such a way as to suggest that
Juvenal is discussing a category of women.
Juvenal therefore has now drifted away from his attempt at analysis back to
description; a clear indication that his mind has returned to the marital question
is the re-appearance of the prospective bridegroom Postumus in 377. After 28 Postumus fades gradually from memory; apostrophes have little to tie them down
specifically to him, though as late as 20018 the future tenses and warning tone
make us think of him. There |[257] follow two characterless addresses (231 and 258),
then in 2758 one which certainly does not envisage him; nor do 312, O 7, O 14, O

SATIRE SIX221

23. Revived consciousness in 377 that he is the addressee needs such explanation
as is provided by my analysis. In the following husbands and their wives effects
on them are freely mentioned.
398412 deal with another aspect of women, their fondness for gossip. Juvenal
links this with the foregoing by a rather mechanical gradation (sed; the similar
tamen in 413 and 434, where gravior picks up gravis 418, does correspond to more
unity of theme). Here stress is laid on the fact that they have abandoned their sex
and taken over the male role (399401). This idea is further stressed in the next
paragraph 41333 (see on 413 for the reading and punctuation), the woman who
whips her humble neighbours if they awaken her early, who takes her bath late,
engages in unwomanly athletic exercises (in view of misunderstandings it needs
to be remarked that this is not the main point of this section), keeps her guests
waiting and vomits in front of them. This is rather a rag-bag of characteristics,
and her cruelty to her neighbours might be better placed in 474 sqq., but Juvenal
inserts some unifying themes. In 418 the words gravis occursu, taeterrima vultu
are clearly meant to link what precedes with what follows (and therefore Leo was
wrong to put the full stop after vultu instead of after canem). The woman lacks
feeling both for the humiles vicini and the convivae and rejoices in tumultus (420).
We may observe two points within this section. First, the phrasing of 4223, a
prurient detail, shows that the idea of sexual immorality, last traced in 379, is still
at the back of Juvenals mind. Secondly, the wording of 413 is significant; the poet
is judging from the viewpoint of the husband, who has to put up with his wifes
behaviour (intolerabile; cf. 4323 and gravior 434), not from that of a moralist. To
the former the gossip and the violent spoilt aristocrat are objectionable in much
the same degree, whereas the latter would see a great difference between them
(the special factors which sometimes make Juvenal utter odd moral judgments
are absent here).
There follows in 43456 another unsexed (4457) type, the culture-bug. It is
difficult to trace the exact sequence of thought in what follows because there is
probably a gap in the text after |[258] 460 (see the note there). As it stands Juvenal
states that the donning of expensive jewelry confers such arrogance on women
that they feel themselves above all rules; nothing is more intolerable than a rich
woman (45760). Then after the presumed gap he is found talking about the repulsiveness of women with their make-up on (46173). The notion of the toilet
gives him the idea of describing the events of a day (474 sqq.) beginning with this
operation; cf. how [Lucian] 3942 passes from the toilet to the events of
the rest of the day. In fact the toilet monopolises Juvenals attention and he neglects to make clear what was, I think, his intention, that the arrival of the priests
(511) is the next event of the day of this woman who has good reasons for worshipping Isis (489). It has generally been thought that he neglects to describe the rest
of the days occupations, whether inadvertently or because he wishes the reader to

222A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

generalise from a detail and gather that the whole day is like the morning (cf. on
1.132); certainly the text gives no support to another view, that he is deliberately
exaggerating and intends to imply that they spend all day at their toilet. He begins
(47495) with criticism of the ladys cruelty to her attendants, due to causes outside their control (4756, 495), but then passes to ridicule of quaerendi cura decoris (495507) in respect of hairdressing; this follows naturally from the discussion
of hairdressing in 4905, but thematically might have been better grouped with
the description of making-up in 46173 (verses which faciem linit 481 shows to
have been still present in his mind at that point).
50891: all this time she is quite indifferent to the expense she is causing her
husband, who is so important to the argument that he appears under three names
in 50810 (see note); her hatred of her husbands friends and slaves (51011) is
an entirely out-of-place repetition of an earlier theme (21433). One of the chief
expenses is her outlay on religious charlatans; and while rich women consult expensive practitioners, poor women too have their humble consultants (58291), so
that the corruption spreads through the whole of society (cf. the contrast pauper
72 with magno 73, and 34951, which imply that the corruption began at the top).
The humbler women of Rome are thus not exempt from Juvenals censure; but it
is manifest that his attack is directed mainly against the rich and aristocratic (80,
82, |[259] 2657, 323, 385, 414, 594, 614; 279 clearly envisages a senators wife).
The contrast between rich and poor introduces 592609, which claims that rich
women avoid childbirth and introduce suppositious infants. The notion of abortion (5956) foreshadows the last two paragraphs (61o26 and 62761), dealing
with womens dabblings in love-philtres, which produce mental derangement in
their husbands, and poison, given to their stepchildren, children and husbands;
Juvenal carefully marks this out as the climax (6347). The satire thus ends with
matrimonial relations again in the forefront (65261), nowadays (nunc 659) transgressed in the most drastic and callous way.
The sequence of thought as thus traced is in many cases an associative rather
than a logical or structured one; but there are clear indications that a more formal
structure was at one time intended, and that added layers of elaboration have been
allowed to obscure this. Juvenal has been diverted from attention to structure as his
mind suggested more and more topics to him. Now the impulse which compels an
artist to blur his design must be a powerful one, and I identify it with that genuine
personal misogyny which I have already claimed to detect. The outcome is that
Juvenal attempts to batter, not to argue, the reader into accepting his view. But
battering seldom produces genuine conviction, and its main effect is to arouse resistance; the reader cannot but be conscious of the unbalanced nature of Juvenals
attack, which relies on generalisation from isolated cases (see on 2426). The merits
of the poem therefore do not depend on any moral insight, but are purely literary,
residing in the vehemence and vividness of the writing in the individual sections.

SATIRE SIX223

Note: Juvenal and Senecas De Matrimonio

In his treatise Adversus Iovinianum 1.419 St Jerome quotes copious extracts from
a number of pagan authors on marriage, naming Aristotle, Theophrastus, Seneca and Plutarch. It is hard to disentangle the contributions of each of these; as
far as concerns Seneca, the fundamental work is E. Bickels Diatribe in Senecae
Philosophi Fragmenta I (1915). Further bibliography will be found in M. Lausberg Untersuchungen zu Senecas Philos. Fragmente (1970) 1 n. 2, the items more
particularly relevant to |[260] Juvenal being van Wageningen Mnem.2 45, 1917, 417
and Frassinetti Rendic. Ist. Lombardo 88, 1955, 151; add D. Wiesen St Jerome as a
Satirist (1964) 1528. Bickel edits the relevant parts of Jerome on pp. 38294, and
I shall refer to his pagination as well as to the numeration in Haases collection of
Senecas fragments.
Seneca is first mentioned in ch. 41 (p. 383.2; fr. 80), then twice in ch. 49; p.
292.24 = fr. 81 scripserunt Aristoteles et Plutarchus et noster Seneca de matrimonio
libros, ex quibus superiora nonnulla sunt et ista quae subiecimus and p. 393.25 =
fr. 87 (the following doctissimi viri vox est p. 393.29 = fr. 78 doubtless also means
Seneca). Within these portions the following resemblances to Juvenal may be detected. Ch. 48 = p. 392.17 = fr. 667 quid referam Pasiphen, Clytemestras et Eripylas, quarum dicitur alia occidisse virum ob amorem adulteri, tertia prodidisse
Amphiaraum et saluti viri monile aureum praetulisse. quidquid tragoediae tument
et domos urbes regnaque subvertit, uxorum paelicumque contentio est. armantur
parentum in liberos manus (not firmly established as Senecan), cf. Juv. 62756.
Ch. 45 = p. 386.27 Alcestin fabulae ferunt pro Admeto sponte defunctam (also not
clearly Senecan) cf. Juv. 6523 (the same point in Musonius Rufus p. 74.15 Hense,
from a piece ). Ch. 49 = p. 393.259 = fr. 87 nam
quid, ait Seneca, de viris pauperibus dicam, quorum in nomen mariti pars magna conducitur? quomodo potest regere mores [et praecipere castitatem; an addition
by Jerome to suit his own argument about virginity] et mariti auctoritatem tenere
qui nupsit? cf. Juv. 1401. Ch. 46 = p. 387.1618 = fr. 72 ostendit divitias magis in
uxoribus elegi solere quam pudicitiam, et multos non oculis sed digitis uxores ducere. optima sane res quam avaritia conciliat cf. Juv. 13741. These resemblances
are mere commonplaces and quite fail to establish any link between Juvenal and
Seneca.
The question however becomes more complicated when we consider the
large extract from Theophrastus (on which see RE suppl. 7.1487) in ch. 47 (pp.
388.11390.14), which is clearly marked off by mention of the source at the beginning and end. This is more germane to Juvenals theme, since whereas Seneca, in
the Stoic tradition, was like Musonius supporting marriage (although critical of
corrupt forms of the institution), Theophrastus was attacking it as unsuitable for
the |[261] philosopher. In fact a number of parallels with Juvenal are here present.
P.388.1215 = fr. 47 cum definisset (Theophrastus) si pulcra esset, si bene morata,

224A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

si honestis parentibus, si ipse sanus ac dives, sic sapientem inire aliquando matrimonium, statim intulit haec autem raro in nuptiis universa concordant, cf. Juv. 28
and 161 sqq. P.389.278 = fr. 56 si bona fuerit et suavis uxor, quae tamen rara avis
est , cf. Juv. 165. P.388.1923 per totas noctes garrulae conquestiones: illa ornatior
procedit in publicum haec honoratur ab omnibus, ego in conventu feminarum
misella despicior cur aspiciebas vicinam? quid cum ancillula loquebaris? de
foro veniens quid attulisti? non amicum habere possumus, non sodalem. alterius
amorem, suum odium suspicatur, cf. Juv. 152, 214, 268 sqq. P.388.25 = fr. 49 paupe
rem alere difficile est, divitem ferre tormentum cf. Juv. 460. P.389.45 (honorandus)
procurator calamistratus et in longam securamque libidinem exsectus spado; sub
quibus nominibus adulteri delitiscunt cf. Juv. 366 and O 202. P.389.11 = fr. 53 quid
prodest etiam diligens custodia cum uxor servari impudica non possit? cf. Juv. O
32. P.390.35 = fr. 58 liberorum causa uxorem ducere ut vel nostrum nomen non
intereat vel habeamus senectutis praesidia et certis utamur heredibus stolidissimum
est cf. Juv. 39. P.389.6 = fr. 52 si totam ei domum regendam commiseris serviendum
est. si (with the other horn of the dilemma) cf. Juv. 206 (also in a dilemma);
but this resemblance is faint. One should perhaps also compare Theophr. fr. 158
Wimmer ap. Stob. Serm. 83 p. 481
with Juv. 398 sqq., and the quotation at Stob. Ecl. 2.31.31 (2.207 Wachsmuth)
with 434 sqq.
These certainly are concrete resemblances of thought, and it has been proposed
to account for them by assuming that Seneca summarised the argument of Theophrastus and then refuted it (hence, as will have been noticed, Haase included
the passage among Senecas fragments, nos. 4759). I agree with Bickel that there
is no warrant for this. One verbal parallel, rara avis, might seem to support the
theory; but this proverbial phrase is four times used by Jerome in other contexts
(Otto avis 2 and Nachtrge 233; Thes. avis 1441.59), and was probably taken by him
from Persius, who is echoed in other passages also of the Adversus Iovinianum
(H. Hagendahl Latin Fathers and the Classics (1958) 145; by contrast he shows little knowledge of Juvenal, Highet 298 n. 11, Wiesen l.c. 910, Godel Mus. Helv. 21,
1964, 69, cf. BICS 22, 1975, 162 n. 4). There are no other verbal |[262] resemblances,
and though some elements in the Theophrastus passage look more Roman than
Greek, Jerome was quite capable of importing this Roman colour in adaptation. It
is of course improbable that Juvenal consulted Theophrastus directly, and I come
to the afore-mentioned conclusion that the resemblances only testify to the existence of a ready-made stock of themes.
124 The basis of Juvenals picture of primitive life is the story of the Ages
of Man recounted by Hesiod and others, according to which (Pudicitia)
stayed among men in the Golden Age (Saturno rege cf. 13.3840) and subsequently left the earth with (so Hesiod Opera 199) or (as most later writers, e.g.

SATIRE SIX225

Aratus 96 sqq.; Ovid Met. 1.149, cf. 129 fugere pudor ) Astraea (19; first named
by Ovid, she being to Aratus daughter of Astraeus), equated with or Iustitia.
Juvenals formulation of this concept in this connection has been influenced by
Propertius 2.32 (49 sqq. nowadays no-one can keep puellae from peccata; is mos
Saturno regna tenente fuit, but since the Flood quis potuit lectum seruare pudicum?), a poem (cf. on 1.81) which suggested to Juvenal the reference to Cynthia
and Lesbia (78; Prop. 45 haec eadem (behaviour contra mores) ante illam <iam>
impune et Lesbia fecit). But Juvenal has not given such an idealised picture of the
past for two reasons. First, he wants to insist on the harsh elements in the life of
the Golden Age because he is leading up to the explanation of Romes moral decay given in 286 sqq., which links morality with a hard life. Secondly, his satiric
astringency likes to deflate even what he holds up for imitation, cf. p. 24. So he has
combined with the mythological motif a more anthropological attitude which insists on the grimmer features of primitive life (for predecessors cf. Singleton G &
R2 19, 1972, 154); for this he has inevitably drawn heavily on Lucr. 5 (details follow).
CREDO is contrasted with forsan 14.
2 VISAM The point of this is the old feeling
(Hom. Il. 20.131); cf. Pease HSCP 53, 1942, 3. Fas sit vidisse is the natural reaction
on seeing a god (Thes. fas 288.72, H. Wagenvoort Studies in Roman Literature
(1956) 184); cf. Dio Cass. 59.27.6, Festus 193 s.v. obstitum. Gods associated with
men in olden times, Catull. 64.3846 and 4078; cf. on 15.1011.
3 SPELUNCA nemora atque cavos montes silvasque subibant Lucr. 5.955; Ovid
Met. 1.121 tum primum subiere domos; domus antra fuerunt (in the Silver Age;
previously the climate had been so balmy that houses were unnecessary); [Lucian]
34.
IGNEM i.e. focum; cf. 1.120 and 134. |[263]
4 Like Polyphemus; Festus 46 (s.v. caulae) antiquitus ante usum tectorum oves
in antris claudebantur.
5 Silvae (cf. 15.152) and montes are often combined in such descriptions of the
life of primitive man; Lucr. l.c. on 3, Cic. De Or. 1.36, Quintil. 9.4.4. The two adjectives, reinforcing each other by their juxtaposition at the beginning of the clause,
are virtually equivalent to in silvis et montibus, but MONTANA has the extra implication of toughness remarked on 2.74 (cf. 637, Lucian Dearum Iudicium = Dial.
Deor. 20.3 ).
6 FRONDIBUS Lucr. 5.972 and 987; Ovid AA 2.475.
FERARUM PELLIBUS Lucr. 5.954.
78 Cf. on 1; the Cynthia of Propertius and the Lesbia of Catullus (poems 2 and
3.1718), the latter described by a typical periphrasis and with the Catullan diminutive ocellus. They had plenty of sensibility and daintiness but not much morality.
TURBAVIT Verg. Aen. 8.223 turbatum oculis (so the mss., cf. Livy 7.26.5), Sen.
Dial. 11.5.3 oculos conturbat, Juv. 13.133 vexare oculos. These passages seem suf-

226A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ficient defence against turpavit (Schrader and Schurzfleisch). See also Cic. Tusc.
3.15, Sen. Ep. 85.5, Celsus 6.6.8 D.
EXSTINCTUS PASSER i.e. the death of a sparrow; see index nouns.
910 POTANDA (not just sugenda), UBERA (not just mammas; of a cow
12.8), MAGNIS (cf. on 15.69), RUCTANTE (he does not just eat them but devours
them greedily; cf. 3.107, 4.31) all indicate grossness. Isidore 17.7.26 quotes a poet
mortales primi ructabant gutture glandem.
GLANDEM The food of men before the discovery of corn; cf. 13.57, 14.1824
(qq.v.), Lucr. 5.939 and 1416.
11 Lucr. 5.907 tellure nova caeloque recenti.
12 There are some legends representing the birth of the first men from trees
(ML Weltschpfung 500, Gruppe 439); cf. Stat. Th. 4.279 quercus laurique ferebant / cruda puerperia ac populos umbrosa creavit / fraxinus et feta viridis puer
excidit orno. Oaks are particularly mentioned by Zonas AP 9.312 = GowPage GP
3484 / ; Verg. Aen. 8.315
gensque virum truncis et duro robore nata (from which the cadence of Juvenals
line derives). Stat. Th. 4.340 saxis nimirum et robore nati (referring back to the
passage already quoted) and 3.560 aureus ille / sanguis avum scopulisque satae vel
robore gentes refer to Hom. Od. 19.163
, on which see West on Hes. Theog. 35.
13 COMPOSITIVE LUTO By Prometheus, cf. on 14.35. In either case they were
indigenae (13.38), terrae filii (4.98), and had no parents to corrupt them. |[264]
14 VETERIS VESTIGIA Catull. 64.295, Verg. Aen. 4.23, Ovid Am. 3.8.19.
15 ALIQUA Some even if not many.
SUB IOVE In the Silver (24) Age, Ovid Met. 1.114; but by the time Jupiter grew
up and acquired a beard, the Iron Age, in which Astraea left the earth, had arrived.
For the childhood of the gods cf. 13.401, for the Saturn-Jupiter contrast Ovid Her.
4.1314.
17 ALTERIUS The last word of the clause is . It was common
to swear by the head (e.g. Verg. Aen. 9.300 per caput hoc iuro; Thes. caput 417.73,
where correct the Ulpian reference to Dig. 12.2.3.4) because it was (Athen.
2.72.66c); but the Greeks (Cic. Pro Flacco 9 testimoniorum religionem et fidem
nunquam ista natio coluit, ibid. 36; even a Greek admits this, Polyb. 6.56.13) divert
the punishment for perjury to someone else (unlike the special case of 13.84, q.v.,
a relative is not here intended).
18 CAULIBUS Hor. Serm. 1.3.116 qui teneros caules alieni fregerit horti.
AC rather than et, as it suitably differentiates the items; cf. 15.167 and note the
variant in 166.
VIVERET sc. quisque from nemo, a common and natural idiom; cf. on 14.233
4, 3.119 and e.g. Hor. Serm. 1.1.3.
20 HAC i.e. Pudicitia.

SATIRE SIX227

21 ANTICUM ET VETUS See on 15.33.

LECTUM CONCUTERE Cf. on 9.78 and Ovid Am. 3.14.26.
GENIUM FULCRI The genius (a word derived from the root indicating procreation) is concerned with propagation of the family and therefore with the marriage-bed; cf. the lectus genialis 10.334, Isid. 8.11.88, Latte 1034, Wissowa 176, le
Bonniec REL 54, 1976, 110. He is particularly affronted by adultery because this
runs the risk of producing children in whose veins the blood of the gens does
not flow; cf. Seneca fr. 78 pudicitia bene meretur de maioribus, quorum sanguinem furtiva subole non vitiat, Musonius p. 65.5 Hense, Phintys (cf. on 314) ap.
Stob. Flor. 4.23 (74).61 (4.590.11 Hense). The fulcrum corresponds to the head of a
modern sofa; it is the end of the frame-work on which the pillows of a couch were
placed; some specimens are extant, and these usually terminate in an asss head of
bronze: cf. 11.96 sqq.: lower down on the fulcrum there is generally a round boss
of metal carrying a bust of a Genius or some god Duff; cf. Blmner1 114 and the
illustration given by Anderson CR1 3, 1889, 323. The fulcrum is the part of the bed
on which the sleeper fulcit (cf. Prop. 3.7.50) his head.
24 SAECULA Poetic plural for metrical convenience; so Verg. Aen. 6.792, Ovid
AA 2.277, and cf. on 13.28.
25 CONVENTUM (or conventio) and PACTUM (often associated) are |[265]
general terms for any contract, but both particularly used with reference to marriage (cf. Fordyce on Cat. 62.27); cf. pactam 200, Festus s.v. conventae 62 conventae (sc. coniugis) condicio dicebatur cum primus sermo de nuptiis et earum condicione habebatur, Serv. Aen. 10.722 pactae coniugis hic ordo est, conciliata primo, dein
conventa, dein pacta, dein sponsa; Digest 23.4 is De pactis dotalibus. SPONSALIA
(Kaser1 1.75, Marquardt 39, Blmner1 345) is the promise of a womans hand given
by her legal representative originally in the form of a sponsio; cf. Serv. Aen. 10.79,
Arnob. 4.20 habent speratas, habent pactas, habent interpositis stipulationibus
sponsas.
NOSTRA TEMPESTATE (see on 4.140) In the Iron Age, and the worst of it
(1.149).
26 A master-barber (one who teaches others) is smartening him up for the
ceremony (solito diligentius ornaris Probus; cf. 11.150). A magister of ornatrices is
mentioned by Marcian Dig. 32.65.3, pupil-barbers by Petron. 94; cf. the architectus
magister of Diocletians Edict 7.74, and RE Industrie 1493.
27 PIGNUS i.e. a ring (Pliny NH 33.12), cf. SG 1.234 = 1.276, Blmner1 346,
Marquardt 41, Carcopino 86, RE nuptiae 1488.66, Dlger 5, 1936, 188, L. Ann Les
Rites de Fianailles (1941) 536. Cf. the ring or bracelet which is a pignus of further
favours, Hor. Odes 1.9.23.
CERTE with the imperfect 9.9; ERAS you used to be, cf. Hom. Od. 4.31
.
SANUS Cf. Menander fr. 59 ; Alexis fr. 262 K and E =

228A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

fab. inc. 34 M; Varro Sat. Men. 167 ; Brecht 57 n. 297.

29 Hom. Od. 10.64 ;
TISIPHONE In a semi-abstract sense, furia; therefore an instrumental ablative
without an agent a, cf. 7.64 and on 1.13.
COLUBRIS The Furies have serpent hair and whips of serpents (RE Furiae
312.22, ML Erinys 1314.58), and the touch of these serpents induces madness (Verg.
Aen. 7.346 sqq., 8.445 sqq., Ovid Met. 4.495 sqq.). Some editors speak of a hendiadys, as if the sense were snake-haired fury; but each noun has its proper force,
and they rather constitute an epexegesis (cf. on 1.76).
EXAGITERE The present indicative in -are (see the apparatus) is a form which
is seldom used except in deponent verbs, and by Juvenal not even in these (Housman); cf. NeueWagener 3.209.
302 Why marry when you can commit suicide? Val. Fl. 7.331 tune sequeris
ait quicquam aut patiere pudendum / cum tibi tot mortes scelerisque brevissima
tanti / effugia?
SALVIS Cf. 23.1. |[266]
RESTIBUS Cf. 10.53, Mart. 4.70.1, Lucian Timon 20; to hang yourself with
(Otto restis, Bcheler on CEL 95.3, Bonfante CP 50, 1955, 47). Donatus on Ter. Ad.
43 quotes a hopelessly corrupt line which the context shows to have been critical
of marriage and which probably ended .
DOMINAM The usual title of Roman ladies (9.78) here has the extra point that
husbands are slaves (see introduction).
ULLAM vel optimam.
31 CALIGANTES Not a case of the idiom discussed on 382. The windows are
personified; they are so high that they themselves become dizzy as they look down.
At the same time there is no doubt a paradoxical reversal of the usual function of
windows, to let in light. On the height of the insulae at Rome see on 3.269 and note
the verbal link with ibid. 275.
32 From the Aemilian Bridge (like the Fabrician at Hor. Serm. 2.3.36) Postumus can conveniently drown himself by jumping into the Tiber.
34 PUSIO pungio PSR, pugio F (and similarly in 35), cf. BICS 14, 1967, 41. Cic.
Pro Cael. 36 tecum (with Clodia) pusio cubitavit; perhaps in this case it is the
Bromius of 377, cf. the concubinus of Cat. 61.121. The advice is of course ironical,
coming from the writer of Two, but it is something of a ; cf. Prop. 2.4.1718,
Lucian Symp. 39, Lucil. 866 qui et poscent minus et praebebunt rectius multo / et
sine flagitio (see introduction on [Lucian] ).
NON LITIGAT Contrasted with the lites of 268; MUNUSCULA (a coaxing
diminutive) contrasted with 149 sqq.; NEC ANHELES contrasted with 4756
and 129 sqq.
37 LATERI A common euphemism in Ovid (cf. esp. AA 2.413 and see Vessey
Liverpool Class. Monthly 1, 1976, 39) and others, but also often generally equivalent

SATIRE SIX229

to vires. Cf. Thes. s.v. 1027.24.

ANHELES Tib. 1.8.37 etc.
38 URSIDIO is apparently not identical with Postumus, but a figure chosen
to illustrate the first possible reason for matrimony, desire of offspring (cf. Plaut.
MG 70315).
LEX IULIA de maritandis ordinibus, of Augustus 18 B.C.; under this Juvenal is
also thinking of the lex Papia Poppaea of A.D. 9. These laws placed the unmarried
and childless under certain legal disadvantages; cf. on 9.87.
TOLLERE See on 9.84; DULCEM cf. 5.139.
39 Only the childless are attractive to captatores; 3.129, 5.137, Marquardt 74. For
their presents of dainty food cf. 5.98 and SG 1.213 = 1.249.
TURTURE A dainty (Blmner1 178 n. 3, Andr 124). |[267]
MULLORUM IUBIS The bearded red mullet (on 4.15 and Pliny there referred
to) was the best kind, Sophron ap. Athen. 7.21.325c. The barba (here indicated by
iubae) itself is mentioned as a delicacy SHA 17.20.7.
40 CAPTATORE MACELLO The dainties bought in the fish-market (cf.
5.958, 11.64) and used as gifts by captatores. We should probably here postulate
the masculine form macellus found in Mart. 10.96.9 conturbatorque macellus and
occasionally elsewhere (Thes. s.v. 3.5763). For the adjectival use of -tor nouns see
on 4.62.
41 Ovid Trist. 1.8.7 omnia iam fient fieri quae posse negabam; Dirae 7; Archil.
122 West . Juvenal is alluding to the literary theme of
the as developed ll.cc. and often elsewhere (e.g. Verg. Buc. 8.26); cf. H.
Kenner Das Phnomenon der Verkehrten Welt (1970) 65.
42 NOTISSIMUS (cf. 9.25) OLIM i.e. iamdiu notissimus.
434 These two lines were transposed by X. Prinz, Rev. Instr. Publ. Belge 10,
1867, 14; and this is a great improvement.
43 Verg. Georg. 3.188 det mollibus ora capistris; cf. on 2078.
44 CISTA A large chest or wardrobe (Blmner1 131); cf. the arca at Hor. Serm.
2.7.59.
LATINUS (1.35) played the part of the lover in an adultery mime who had to
hide himself from a jealous husband (on 8.192 and 197).
PERITURI on the point of perishing, in danger of his life. Reynolds CQ1 40,
1946, 83 takes this to mean that he was almost smothered, but this is feeble. Choricius (quoted by Reynolds) makes the husband call for a dagger; cf. 10.314 sqq.,
Hor. Serm. 1.2.41 sqq., 2.7.67 vita and 69 perire. It is apparent how the conditional
sense discussed on 4.10 is implicit (but not here explicit) in this use of the future
participle.
45 His experience as an adulterer should have taught him better. QUID QUOD
ET begins the line Ovid Met. 9.596, 13.223.
ANTIQUIS DE MORIBUS i.e. de (partitive) mulieribus antiquorum morum,

230A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

antique mratis; cf. Thes. mos 1524.43, Livy 39.11.5 antiqui (the reading is not quite
certain) moris feminam, Tac. Hist. 2.64.3 Sextilia antiqui moris. It is hardly likely
to mean a woman originating from old-fashioned morals.
46 Ursidius has too much blood; he is too sanguine, we should say. sanguinis
missio was a staple remedy of ancient medicine in insanity Duff; cf. Petron. 90.4
Atius 6.8 (cf. 6.2) explains that madness is due to an excess of blood, and bloodletting was the logical treatment; cf. Celsus 3.18, Paul. Aegin. 3.6, Galen 10.930 and
(spurious) 14.733K, Alexander Trallianus 1 p. 515 Puschmann, Plutarch quoted on
369 and Juv. 13.125, 14.57. |[268]
47 He is delicatus, i.e. gives himself airs and is difficult to please; cf. 13.140
Duff. See on 20.291.
TARPEIUM 12.6 (see on 3), 13.78; of the Capitoline temple of Jupiter, Juno
(who alone is here in point) and Minerva.
ADORA i.e. kiss; Ovid Met. 1.375 procumbit uterque / pronus humi gelidoque
pavens dedit oscula saxo, Dlger 2, 1930, 157, Appel 199.
48 PRONUS Cf. Sittl 184, Appel 202.
AURATAM sc. cornua; Latte 386, RE Immolatio 1126, Cook JHS 14, 1894, 122,
Ann. Epigr. 1975 no. 480, Armstrong 3940, Bmer on Ov. Met. 7.161. For another
offering at the Capitol cf. 10.65.
IUNONI As pronuba, the goddess of marriage; Wissowa 186, RE 1117 and ML
588 s.v. Iuno (e.g. Verg. Aen. 4.59).
IUVENCAM For this victim for Juno cf. C. Krause De Romanorum Hostiis
(1894) 38 (cf. Ovid Am. 3.13.13).
49 CAPITIS PUDICI i.e. oris pudici, cf. 51 and 301; fellatrices sunt. Cf. Thes. caput 408.347, Sen. NQ 1.16.4, Onians 1234; Housman Hermes 66, 1931, 406 = Coll.
Papers 1178 quotes Suet. Iul. 22.2 and Tib. 45. Cf. Ovid Ibis 349 nec tibi contingat
matrona pudicior illa.
Clausens punctuation obscures the connection of the imperatives in 478 and
512. Better would be pudici (paucae oscula); necte ADEO introduces an
explanatory clause; 10.297, 13.59, 15.82.
50 CERERIS VITTAS DS vitta 952b n. 25 interpret this of vittae on the statue
of the goddess: dans une peinture relative au culte de Crs, on voit une femme
attachant des vittae un rameau feuillu (Roux et Barr Herculaneum et Pompeii
V pl. vi); cf. Verg. Aen. 2.168 divae contingere vittas of Diomedes and Ulysses carrying off the Palladium. But cf. Tertull. De Test. An. 2.7 vitt Cereris redimit
deum indicem imploras, De Pallio 4.10 ob notam vittae Cereri initiantur. Nothing
more is known about these vittae in the cult of Ceres, who is mentioned because
she is an especially chaste goddess (9.24). There is no particular allusion to the
Cereris castus involving sexual abstinence.
51 For aversion from oscula for sexual reasons cf. Mart. 1.94, Catull. 79.34 with
Kroll, Cic. Pro Sest. 111, Sen. De Ben. 4.30.2, Lucian Pseudol. 31, Aristoph. Eccl. 647.

SATIRE SIX231

512 Houses were garlanded for weddings (79, 227 etc.; in general rejoicing on
the occasion of a marriage Stat. Th. 2.248), births (9.85), and other joyful occasions
(10.65, 12.91). See SG 1.235 = 1.277, Blmner1 354 (where one reference should be
Apul. Met. 4.26), Ogle AJP 31, 1910, 294 and 32, 1911, 263, Baus 96, J. Kchling De
Coronarum Vi (1914) 64.
534 uno contenta is stock praise in obituaries (Thes. 4.679.66, adding CEL 643
and 2214; Sprenger (on 2.40) 98), but Hiberina is far from univira (see on 230).
|[269]
EXTORQUEBIS Not merely exorabis.
55 RURE PATERNO Cf. Pers. 3.24, Hor. Epist. 1.18.60; Prop. 2.19.3 nullus erit
castis iuvenis corruptor in agris.
56 Even in backwaters like Gabii (3.192, 7.4) and Fidenae; cf. 10.100, Hor. Epist.
1.11.7. Yet Gabii got an aqueduct under Hadrian (CIL 14.2797), and a senatus Fidenatium is mentioned under Trajan (CIL 14.4057). It is obvious that Gabii with its
important quarries was far from deserted. Our witnesses simply disregarded the
slaves Brunt1 348; cf. Ashby PBSR 1, 1902, 1889.
57 concedo et in agro castam fuisse (who also gives another interpretation
deserving no attention). But cedo in this sense (with agello ablative of place) is
of doubtful Latinity and the ellipse is harsh (nor is it any easier to understand ut
vivat with Gil Fernandez, Emerita 26, 1958, 77). It is equally harsh to take agello as
dative and interpret I grant what you say of the influence of the paternal country-seat. Thierfelders credo (Hermes 76, 1941, 317) is probably right; cf. credam
16.31 in a similar context and a sentence likewise framed as a sponsio (O 27). For
the present tense in such cases where a future might seem more natural see HS
308, KS 1.119; it indicates willingness to be convinced instantly.
58 NIL rather than nihil; see the apparatus and Housman CR1 34, 1920, 163 =
Coll. Papers 1014. Todays mountains and caves are very different from those of
36.
59 Sen. fr. 119 (ap. Lactant. Inst. 1.16.10; from the libri moralis philosophiae)
quid ergo est quare apud poetas salacissimus Iuppiter desierit liberos tollere? utrum
sexagenarius factus est et illi lex Papia fibulam imposuit? Dio Chrys. 7.143 says that
many seductions happen in cities as in the old legends.
601 The arcades (Prop. 2.23.5, Ovid AA 1.67 sqq. and 4916, Am. 2.2.34, RA
627, Trist. 2.296, Mart. 11.47.3; SG 1.248 = 1.293), a favourite place for taking a
stroll, theatres (Prop. 2.22.4, Ovid AA 1.89, 3.633, Trist. 2.279) and circus (see on
11.201) were places where crowds of women might be seen and, though women
had separate seats in the theatre (RSV 3.535, SG 1.246 = 1.289; for the amphitheatre see Hollis on Ovid AA 1.167), were suitable for picking up a girl. The rows of
seats (spectacula; 8.205, 11.193) were divided by passages into wedge-shaped blocks
(Thes. cuneus 1406.26).
TOTIS See on 8.255.

232A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

62 Logically a slight hysteron proteron. QUOD The neuter is an Ovidian idiom (see Gnomon 46, 1974, 412a; many examples in comedy, and cf. also Pliny Ep.
4.27.4); here Juvenal has in mind AA 1.91 and 175 in comparable contexts (cf. also
Am. 1.8.95 ne securus amet). |[270]
63 BATHYLLUS was the name of a famous pantomimus of Augustan times
who virtually founded the pantomimic genre with Pylades. It is generally supposed that a successor, perhaps under Domitian, took his name, as often happened (cf. on 1.36; SG 4.257 sqq. = 4.197, esp. 260 = 199; Cameron1 171 sqq., L.
Robert Hermes 65, 1930, 112 = Opera Min. Sel. 1.660, Bonaria Maia 11, 1959, 226
and 2312); but there is no other reference to a second Bathyllus, and Juvenal may
simply be using his name as that of the archetypal pantomimus (cf. Pers. 5.123).
CHIRONOMON (cf. on 5.121) Probably the gesticulating Leda or perhaps in
a passive sense, , a chironomo actam. Gesticulation was naturally
important in the pantomime, in which the meaning was conveyed by dance with
words from the chorus but not the actor (cf. Crinagoras AP 9.542.4 = GowPage
GP 1998 of Bathyllus; SG 2.104 = 2.1301, O. Weinreich Epigramm und Pantomimus (1948) 140, RE pantomimus 853). Hesychius has , cf.
LSJ II, Aristaenetus Ep. 1.26
.
LEDAM Mythological subjects were favourites in the pantomime, SG 2.1017 =
2.12634; for Leda cf. RE pantomimus 848.66.
MOLLI 3.99; it indicates the sensuous movements of the dancers pliant limbs
(RE pantomimus 852.40, 856.4858, 857.31, Tanzkunst 2243.16; SG 2.106 = 2.133).
SALTANTE With accusative, as commonly (LSJ I 2); see KS 1.278
and add Juv. 6.O.26, Apul. Apol. 78, Arnob. 7.33 Ledam saltare.
645 Two methods of interpreting the text of the mss. have been tried: (1)
gannit subito et miserabile longum, but this should be gannit subito miserabile et
longum, (2) Apula gannit subito et miserabile, longum (i.e. diu) attendit Thymele,
but et is still not wholly in place (though there is reasonable manuscript authority
for its omission). Housmans transposition of longum and gannit evades these difficulties, but leaves the passage burdened with empty verbiage. The most elegant
solution is:
Tuccia vesicae non imperat, Apula gannit,
attendit Thymele,
with 65 deleted (Guyet); all is now clear-cut and unencumbered by clumsy superfluities.
VESICAE NON IMPERAT Cf. Anth. Lat. 487a.1920.
APULA For this name cf. Bruttia and the other parallels in Reichmuth 52, Kajanto 192, Doer 99.
66 Even Thymele, who as a mime-actress (1.36, 8.197) might be expected to be a
mistress of obscene representations, can learn from him (cf. SG 2.106 = 2.133). |[271]

SATIRE SIX233

RUSTICA See on 3.67; she is a novice by comparison with him.

67 sqq. On the attractions of actors for society ladies (a topic of course on
which scandal battens) cf. Petron. 126.6, Mart. 6.6, RE histrio 2127.3.
689 Since the ludi Palatini in January were not public (RSV 3.469 and 490,
Wissowa 458, Beaujeu BICS 22, 1975, 114), there were no scenic games between the
ludi plebeii in November and the ludi Megalenses (11.193) in April (RE suppl. 5.620
and 626; RSV 3.499 and 501; Wissowa 318 and 4546). During this period therefore
from January on (the end of the year being legal vacation; on 16.42) the courts,
which except for cases of vis would not be held during ludi (RE actus rerum 333.33
and 67), would resound with eloquence.
70 They fondle items of the actors costumes to keep them fresh in their memory; cf. 3834. Accius would presumably be portraying a bacchante or satyr.
SUBLIGAR Worn by actors under the rest of their costume; Cic. De Off. 1.129,
Nonius s.v. subligaculum. Note that Juvenal chooses an item with a sexual innuendo; cf. on 422.
ACCI So the quotations GLK 5.231.1, 6.232.11. PSR read acne, A acii; i.e. as
became
. But Acti (it is not clear from Knoche how
Housman explains
much support this has) is perhaps right, cf. CIL 10.1946 = ILS 5183.
71 URBICUS For the name cf. Kajanto 311; it became an inherited one (CIL
14.2408 of A.D. 169 a scaenicus called Aelius Urbicus); cf. on 63. Should Mart.
1.41.11 be non optimus urbicus poeta or Urbicus?
EXODIO ATELLANAE On the Atellan farces see Balsdon1 278, SG 2.90 = 2.112,
Beare 13748. They often had mythological subjects (Suet. Dom. 10 etc.; Leo Hermes 49, 1914, 176 = Ausg. Kl. Schr. 1.263, Cbe 72 sqq.): Autonoe was the mother
of Actaeon and sister of Agave, whom she helped to dismember Pentheus, Atellans were often performed as exodia after more serious plays; cf. 3.175, Suet. Tib.
45 Atellanicum exodium, Cic. Ad Fam. 9.16.7 a tragedy used to be followed by
an Atellan, nowadays by a mime, Lydus De Mag. 1.40
; Exodium is the title of an Atellan by Novius. Hence actors
in this genre were called exodiarii (B. Zucchelli Le Denominazioni latine dell attore (1964) 90). Accordingly Atellanae is usually understood as defining genitive
after exodio. This is disputed by F. Skutsch RE exodium 1687, who thinks that the
reference is perhaps to a pantomime following an Atellan; but gesticulation suits
an Atellan just as well (Tertull. De Spect. 17.2 Atellanus gesticulatur), no reliance
can be placed on the obscure phrase exodia conserta fabellis potissimum Atellanis sunt in Livys (7.2.11) artificially fabricated account of Roman dramatic |[272]
history, and an Atellan would hardly be of sufficient weight to be followed by an
after-piece. Pichon (Rev. Phil.2 37, 1913, 257) thought that Atellanae agrees with
Autonoes, Autonoe from Atella, an admirably satiric phrase (cf. 5.59 etc.); and
this may be right.
72 Atellans being less popular, their actors would not disdain proposals even

234A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

from poor women, unlike the comedians of 73; or perhaps they did not need to
look after their voices so carefully (cf. gestibus and Beare 140) and therefore did
not require payment.
73 HIS some cf. 13.91. Sexual activity was held to harm the voice (cf. on 11.156;
Pliny NH 28.58 seems to be isolated in the contrary opinion), and therefore actors
and singers were restrained by the fibula attached to their penis; cf. 379, Mart. 7.82
and 14.215, Thes. fibula 644.73, RE 9.2543, RAC Abstinenz 423, E. J. Dingwall Male
Infibulation (1925), SG 2.354 = 2.180.
74 CHRYSOGONUM A citharode, 7.176.
VETENT = prhbant.
HISPULLA 12.11; on the bearers of the name cf. Syme l.c. on 2.50.
75 AN EXSPECTAS UT Stat. Th. 11.688; cf. Juv. 6.239, 14.25.
QUINTILIANUS The type of an educated and cultured man (280, 7.186); but it
may also be remembered that he was the elderly husband of a young wife.
76 On the performances of such musicians cf. Balsdon1 2867, RE Kitharoedia
533.53 and choraules, J. Frei De Certaminibus Thymelicis (1900) 48 and 57, Cockle
Proc. xiv International Congress of Papyrologists 1974 (1975) 59, SG 2.351 = 2.177; on
their offspring from Roman matrons 598601, Mart. 6.39.19 (the wife of Pertinax
was said to have been infatuated with a citharode SHA 8.13.8). Glaphyrus is known
from Mart. 4.5.8; this is another inherited name (on 63; cf. SG 4.261 = 4.201) derived from an earlier choraules; the tomb of the choraules Ti. Claudius Glaphyrus
(CIL 6.10120 = ILS 5232) belongs to one or the other. A choraules played the oboe
(on 2.90) to the accompaniment of a chorus.
QUE Similar instances of variation between copulative and disjunctive conjunctions are common; HS 479, Thes. 5.2.894.30. Cf. 575 and on 10.170.
78 This suggests that noble families on the occasion of weddings put up stands
in the streets for spectators to watch the procession, but there are no further references to this; on an occasion of public rejoicing at Neros return to Rome, Tac.
Ann. 14.13.
ANGUSTOS Cf. 3.2367.
79 Cf. on 512 and SG 1.235 = 1.277; GRANDI because whole trees seem to have
been used (12.91, Catull. 64.288 where a river-god carries them). LAURO is placed
. |[273]
80 An aristocratic family like the Cornelii Lentuli (7.95, 8.187; Cic. Ad Fam.
3.7.5 Lentulitas) could afford expensive canopied (the word is derived from conopeum) beds inlaid with tortoise-shell (11.945, 14.308); Varro RR 2.10.8 fetas nostras quae in conopeis iacent dies aliquot (Juvenal had read this work; on 8.117). Cf.
RE Konopeion. The massive words of this line portray the grandeur let down in 81,
and the spondees of 79 contribute to the effect (cf. 89).
81 MURMILLONEM See on 8.200. On the attractions of gladiators cf. Balsdon1
297, RE suppl. 3.783.50, Tertull. De Spect. 22.2, SG 2.51 = 2.62; Dio Cass. 60.28 re-

SATIRE SIX235

ports an affair of Messalina.

82 SENATORI Perhaps Veiento (see on 113). SORORIS (85 and 111) gives the
impression of being an authentic detail of an actual event.
LUDUM 8.199, 11.20; the whole school of gladiators to which Sergius (105, 112)
belonged went to Egypt (cf. on 3.34). There was an imperial gladiatorial school and
an amphitheatre in Alexandria (Robert 124 no. 70 and 242 n. 6; SG 4.252 = 4.238
and 210.65 n. 17). For Alexandrian gladiators see Bang Rm. Mitt. 25, 1910, 232.
83 FAMOSA MOENIA LAGI i.e. Alexandria. Lagus was the father of Ptolemy
I and Alexandria was notorious for immorality (cf. generally Dio Chrys. 32); but
even Canopus (15.46) could not stand this.
84 PRODIGIA ET MORES i.e. prodigiosos mores; cf. monstra 286. Prof. Nisbet
suggests prodigium.
URBIS i.e. Rome; it should be printed with a capital.
86 INDULSIT i.e. tribuit; Hor. Serm. 2.2.94 das aliquid famae?, Prop. 2.32.31
Tyndaris externo patriam mutavit amore.
87 Statius insists that his wifes unwillingness to leave Rome was not due to
this cause, Silv. 3.5.15. For the sarcastic anti-climax cf. 3.223, 11.53; for the use of
UT rather than quo in spite of the comparative HS 642, KS 2.233, and for the type
of purpose clause see on 15.89. For Paris (RE no. 3, PIR1 P 95) see 7.87, SG 4.258
= 4.198; another inherited name (Bonaria (on 63) 226 and 234). The Domitianic
pantomimus meant here was executed in A.D. 83; but one could hardly trust Juvenals historical accuracy in a side-kick like this sufficiently to infer a dating for
the episode.
88 SED Simply ; cf. on 8.158.
PLUMA A luxury 1.159, 10.362; RE plumae, SG 2.1423 = 2.281, Marquardt 724,
Blmner1 11516, RE Betten 373; cf. Lucil. 252.
89 SEGMENTATIS Cf. the segmenta of the wedding-dress 2.124 and the toralia
segmentata at feasts (Marquardt 548 n. 9, Blmner1 116 n. 15); these segmenta were
often very rich, of purple or gold.
90 FAMAM This is important in Juvenals eyes; 14.1 and 152. [Ovid] Her. 17.207
non ita contemno volucris praeconia famae, said by Helen. |[274]
91 MOLLES CATHEDRAS The chairs of women; 9.52, Marquardt 726,
Blmner1 123 nn. 6 and 11. Cf. Verg. Aen. 8.666 pilentis matres in mollibus.
MINIMA EST IACTURA Cf. 3.125; Prop. 2.32.21 famae iactura pudicae.
923 IGITUR resumes after a digression, cf. ergo 14.244. On her route cf. SG
1.34952 = 1.4237. She would sail from Puteoli through the Straits of Messina and
then across the Ionius Pontus between Sicily and the Peloponnese, next through
the main mare internum until she reached the mare Aegyptium (with MUTANDUM cf. Lucr. 4.458, mari alio Tac. Ann. 5.10.3). (sc. ) is found in
Greek, but the masculine is not elsewhere attested in Latin; Housman however
compares Tyrrhenus Val. Fl. 4.715, and Aegaeus is also found (Thes. s.v. 945.40).

236A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

94 PERICLI RATIO The reason for incurring danger; cf. 7.1.

95 TIMENT sc. feminae, cf. 112, 135, 2845 and on 365, 464, 2.18.
PAVIDO GELANTUR PECTORE Cf. Lucan 7.339, Stat. Th. 2.544.
97 TURPITER AUDENT Cf. 8.165; contrasted with honesta 95. Cf. 285.
98 DURUM EST This is what they say in reply to their husband; cf. on 15.47
and Regula Glotta 31, 1951, 902.
99 Cf. Pliny NH 10.194 sentinae odorem; nautea means both bilgewater and
sea-sickness. SUMMUS VERTITUR AER i.e. summus becomes imus; she is dizzy
and sick, cf. 304.
100 ILLA The one with her husband; HAEC the one with her lover.
101 CONVOMIT Elsewhere only Cic. Phil. 2.75.
1012 Not being sick, she is able to eat, and she is not so exclusive as to object
to the presence of the sailors, but even takes a share in their duties Duff; Prop.
3.7.48 duro teneras laedere fune manus.
103 It is impossible to say whether CAPTA is or one should understand est. Note that FORMA is developed 1079, IUVENTA 1056; the order
is chiastic.
104 LUDIA Gladiators Moll Balsdon, a woman who loves the ludus and gladiators; cf. 265, Mart. 5.24.10.
105 SERGIOLUS The caressing diminutive () by which Eppia calls
her Sergius; cf. HS 773, Hofmann 139 and other parallels in Duff. on 105, though
Wessner doubts the text, declares that his professional name was Ludor.
RADERE GUTTUR COEPERAT i.e. he was past middle age (on 4.103).
106 And not only getting old, but mutilated as well.
1079 SICUT as for example, cf. KS 2.450. The GIBBUS must be a wart on
the outside of the nose, since Juvenal is referring to visible deformities. Housman
objects to -que, but Juvenal is mentioning two points which make this wart particularly ugly; first, it is sore and |[275] inflamed because the rubbing of his helmet
irritates it (cf. Sil. It. 2.318 galea teruntur malae; Pliny NH 33.105 excrescentia ulcerum ex attritu facta; attero is a technical medical term), second, it is right in the
middle of his nose, not in some unobtrusive place, e.g. at the side of the nostril.
There is no warrant for any emendation.
ACRE MALUM Lucr. 3.252; acer (Thes. 360.24) is often applied to bodily humors. Celsus 7.7.7 pituita distillat from the eyes.
OCELLI As in addressing her Sergius, so in speaking of his poor little eye
Eppia uses a diminutive.
110 HYACINTHOS Cf. Lucian De Merc. Cond. 35, Libanius Ep. 1493.4; a type
of youthful beauty.
11112 Juvenal rounds off the episode by recalling its beginning 856, with the
nouns in reverse order (Hirst 67); the so-called ring-composition, cf. on 247 and
Hermathena 118, 1974, 1719. There is a noteworthy example of this type of ar-

SATIRE SIX237

rangement in the prayer in Cato De Agr. 141.23.

AMANT For the subject cf. on 95, for the idea 253.
113 ACCEPTA RUDE The wooden sword presented to retiring gladiators; cf.
7.171, RE rudiarius, DS gladiator 1575b.
VEIENTO Though other men of this name are known (McDermott AJP 91,
1970, 137 n. 32), it is hard to doubt that Fabricius Veiento (on 4.113) is intended.
The meaning is unclear. If Veiento was the senator to whom Eppia was married
(82), the point is that Sergius, if retired from his profession, would be as unattractive to Eppia as her own husband. This seems to give the best point, though at
the date of the Mainz inscription (not earlier than A.D. 83) Veiento was married to
an Attica, and we should expect to hear of such a lurid episode as this in his past.
Alternatively the name might be meant to represent a repulsive old man.
114 PRIVATA See on 1.16; DOMUS cf. 85. Cf. Sen. Dial. 11.16.4 potest (fortuna)
adversus privatas domos ullam aequitatem nosse cuius implacabilis saevitia totiens ipsa funestavit pulvinaria?
RIVALES DIVORUM In power (cf. 619) and prosperity; but of course it is
heavily ironical here. Cf. the concept of the domus divina, the imperial house
(Latte 316).
116 sqq. I have proposed to read as follows (BICS 13, 1966, 39):
116 dormire virum cum senserat uxor
117 ausa Palatino tegetem praeferre cubili
119 linquebat comite ancilla non amplius una;
118 sumere nocturnos meretrix Augusta cucullos

<non erubuit>
120 sed
The merits of this arrangement are (1) it gives sense to sed 120, (2) it |[276] brings
linquebat nearer to its object virum, (3) it removes the asyndeton praeferre,
sumere, (4) it breaks the unpleasant coupling between the imperfect linquebat and
the perfect intravit.
11618 UXOR and MERETRIX AUGUSTA (for the oxymoron cf. on 4.116;
Prop. 3.11.39 and Pliny NH 9.119 meretrix regina of Cleopatra) are identical; see
on 8.120. Though Messalina is sometimes on Greek inscriptions (PIR1
V 161 pp. 3801) she never had the title Augusta (Dio Cass. 60.12); but detailed
historical accuracy is not to be expected from Juvenal, who uses the word simply
to mean Caesars wife (cf. Suet. Nero 28.2). Friedlaender considers the possibility
of augusta, but this is enfeebling.
TEGETEM A mat served as a bed for the poor, e.g. beggars (on 5.8, 9.139); here
for the prostitutes. Cf. Mart. 6.39.4.
CUCULLOS For concealment, as 330 and 8.145 (q.v.). The plural presumably to
indicate a number of occasions; then Mart. 11.98.10, where we have a poetic plural
dictated by metrical convenience, is not parallel. Note however lacernas 16.45 with

238A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

no metrical purpose. For NOCTURNOS see on 1.27.

119 NON AMPLIUS UNA On ordinary excursions the Empress would have
many.
120 She put on a blonde wig partly for disguise (cf. Suet. Nero 26.1) and partly
because the demi-monde favoured this colour (O 16 flava lupa; Tertull. De Cultu
Fem. 2.6.3); it would be made from the hair of Germans (cf. RE 19.195960, Marquardt 6034, Blmner1 276).
121 sqq. Apart from scattered references, the main literary sources for Roman
brothels are Petron. 78 and Sen. Contr. 1.2; see Herter.
CALIDUM It was probably an inn or thermopolium as well; cf. 11.81, Herter 73,
Kleberg 8991.
CENTONE i.e. velo, used to cover the entrance of the brothel and the doors
of the individual rooms; Petron. 7, Blmner1 370 n. 6 and add Sen. NQ 1.16.6;
Dio Cass. 79.13.3.
CELLAM 128, Petron. 8, Sen. Contr. 1.2.5 and 10 (ibid. 1 the diminutive); Thes.
s.v. 760.3, Blmner1 370 n. 4.
SUAM accepisti locum Sen. l.c. 1.
NUDA This indicates the lowest class of whore; 3.135, 11.172, Herter 923,
Blmner1 370 n. 3 (add Hor. Serm. 2.7.48, Ovid Tristia 2.309 and correct one reference to Tac. Ann. 15.37).
PAPILLIS AURATIS Presumably with gold leaf, as in modern nightclubs.
Weidner is wrong to see an allusion to the ornamentum mamillarum of pearls
which even a respectable woman might wear (Hubner Hermes 1, 1866, 356). |[277]
TITULUM The name would be written above the door of the cella; cf. Sen. l.c.
7 nomen tuum pependit in fronte, Herter 88, RE meretrix 1024.5.
LYCISCAE A significant name indicating the profession (cf. lupa); applied to a
depraved woman Mart. 4.17, but also evidently quite innocently e.g. CIL 6.28228;
Cf. Locker Glotta 22, 1934, 48.
OSTENDIT Sen. De Ben. 7.9.5 ut matronae nostrae ne adulteris quidem plus
sui in cubiculo quam in publico ostendant. The grand style of the apostrophe to
Britannicus bitterly contrasts with the context.
BLANDA Necessary in this profession, Sen. l.c. 2, 5, 12; Plaut. Cas. 585; Apul.
Apol. 98 meretricia blandimenta.
AERA POPOSCIT basia meretricum poscinummia Apul. Met. 10.21; cf. Mart.
9.8.4, Ovid Am. 1.10.21.
INTRANTES Sen. l.c. 7.
126 All the mss. which contain this line are of the fifteenth century. It could
have been deleted from motives of prudery; on the other hand it could have been
added because an interpolator thought that the point of the proceedings should
be mentioned and considered 125 too abrupt, failing to see that followed by a
semi-colon it would cohere well with 127. Of the alternative beginnings ac resu-

SATIRE SIX239

pina would be more in Juvenals style (cf. 3.112, 8.176); continue is a form which
hardly occurs in classical Latin, and not in any poet (Thes. s.v. 729.25). For ABSORBUIT cf. 10.223, for ICTUS Anth. Lat. 712.19, for the whole line Hor. Serm.
2.7.49 quaecumque excepit turgentis verbera caudae.
127 Normally the girls (14.45) would be slaves owned by the leno; but this one
evidently merely provided them with rooms.
128 ABT See on 3.174; TAMEN quamquam abiit.
1312 11.172 olido; Mart. 4.4.9 redolet quod spurcae moriens lucerna Ledae;
Hor. Serm. 2.7.48 sub clara lucerna. To Tertullian (Ad Uxorem 2.6.1, Apol. 35.4)
a ianua lucernata is the equivalent of the modern red light; cf. RE meretrix 1023.41,
Herter 84 n. 260. Ancient lamps tended to be smoky; cf. 7.225, Blmner1 136 n. 1.
PULVINAR (RE s.v.) A divine pulvinus (cf. rivales divorum 115), the Palatinum
cubile of 117; Domitian; the dominus et deus, so called his bed (Suet. 13.1), cf. Sen.
quoted on 114. The word is used of couches at a lectisternium and the cushioned
seat reserved for members of the imperial family in the circus.
1335 form a praeteritio, I have argued at BICS 13, 1966, 39 that MINIMUM is
a corruption of some word of exactly the opposite sense; but I cannot produce a
good parallel for my proposal summum, and peius, which could have been omitted because of homoeoteleuton, is better.
HIPPOMANES 616 and 626 show that by this Juvenal means an |[278] excrescence on the forehead of a newly-born pony used as a love-charm; RE s.v. 1880.62,
Pease on Verg. Aen. 4.515.
CARMEN magicos cantus 610; love-incantations.
COCTUM Tac. Ann. 13.15.5, Livy 8.16.6, Suet. Nero 33.2.
PRIVIGNO 6278.
SEXUS feminini cf. 647; IMPERIO cf. 15.138 naturae imperio.
136 CAESENNIA Censennia (PSR) is not a Roman name (Schulze LEG 136 n.
3).
137 BIS QUINGENA A million sesterces, the amount of the senatorial census,
is often mentioned as a rich womans dowry (10.335, Mart. 11.23.3, 12.75.8; Momm
sen1 1.498.2, RE nuptiae 1489). Cf. the equestrian census as a dowry at 2.117 (also
for DEDIT). Thus Caesennia becomes a dotata coniunx who regit virum (Hor.
Odes 3.24.17; cf. SG 1.238 = 1.280, Diggle on Eur. Phaethon 1589, Aristotle Eth. Nic.
8.1161a1; the word was invented for this).
138 A probably spurious line, deleted by Scholte 50 (cf. BICS 22, 1975, 159).
INDE 139 should not be separated from the mention of the dowry in 137 (cf. on
188), and a quiver is an odd means of making anyone thin (cf. on 614bc; even a
bow and arrows would be odd), though defence of a sort may be found in Theocr.
11.1416 / /
, .
PHARETRAE Poetic plural; the arrows of love are usually discharged by Cu-

240A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

pid, but sometimes by Venus (BICS l.c.).

140 LIBERTAS EMITUR She is buying her freedom of conduct. But this is
an abrupt change from the view-point of the husband to that of the wife, and W.
Schulz Quaestionum Juv. Capita Tria (1885) 16 may be right in supposing a lacuna
after 139. If this is right, and 138 is also spurious, it looks as if the passage may have
suffered some deliberate re-writing, comparable to the loss of the O-fragment and
the subsequent insertion of 3468; this supposition would account for the brevity
of 13641 as they stand.
Cf. generally Jerome Ep. 127.3.3 ut tandem dominatu virorum se caruisse
laetentur quaerantque alios quibus imperent. unde et pauperes eligunt ut nomen
tantum virorum habere videantur, qui patienter rivales sustineant.
CORAM sc. marito; cf. 1.567, Tib. 1.2.21.
INNUAT make signs with winks to her lover; Ovid AA 2.543, 3.514 etc.
RESCRIBAT Cf. 2334, 14.29, Mart. 2.9.
VIDUA unmarried.
142 sqq. Plut. Coniug. Praec. 4.138f dissuades marriage because of mere physical attractiveness. SERTORIUS is a cunnilingus at Mart. 2.74 |[279] (he also uses the
name 3.79, 7.10.5); BIBULA is a cognomen of the Calpurnii and Publicii.
143 SI VERUM EXCUTIAS (Thes. 5.2.1313.16) is a compressed expression for si
rem excutias et verum invenias. The whole sentence involves a common and natural type of ellipse, if you examine the facts, <you will find that>
144 Suppose her skin becomes dry and loose (ARIDA proleptic), thus causing
wrinkles; cf. 10.1925, Ovid AA 3.73 laxantur corpora rugis, Hor. Odes 2.11.68
arida canities.
145 OBSCURI black cf. 131.
OCULI MINORES As the cheeks become fat and puffy and the eyes sunken.
146 A travesty of the customary (not legal) formula of divorce tuas res tibi
habeto (Marquardt 70, Blmner1 363, RE divortium 1243.54, Corbett 218 and 224,
Kaser1 1.812, J. Huber Die Ehekonsensus (1977) 151); Juvenal took it from the homosexual divorce in Petron. 81.1 (cf. Philol. 106, 1962, 94), where it is more suitably
applied to itinerants. Sarcinulae = baggage, property 3.161, cf. Sen. De Rem. Fort.
16.7 duc cuius srcns domus non sit angusta. Sarcinas colligere is the preparation for setting out on a journey; Sall. Iug. 97.4, Varro RR 1.1.1. The freedman
is his masters agent, as Pyrgopolynices wishes Palaestrio to be at Plaut. MG 1115;
hence the technical phrase nuntium remittere (Kaser1 1.327, Blmner1 362 n. 12, E.
Levy Hergang der rm. Ehescheidung (1925) 55, Marquardt 77); cf. Titinius 513 at
vestrorum aliquis nuntiet / Geminae ut res suas procuret et facessat aedibus (the
text is uncertain in detail). Paulus Dig. 24.2.9 says that a divorce requires seven
witnesses praeter libertum eius qui divortium faciet; the exact sense of this is not
clear (Corbett 228, Levy 45, Huber 153).
EXI Petron. 94.6 ocius foras exi (cf. Philol. l.c.); Sen. De Ben. 3.16.2 exeunt mat-

SATIRE SIX241

rimonii causa. This is a natural corollary of the circumstances, not, as has sometimes been supposed, part of the formulae; cf. the man expelling his mistress at
Menand. Samia 381 .
EXI OCIUS ET PROPERA Plaut. Curc. 312 properatin ocius?, Pers. 85 adpro
perate ocius and Hofmann pp. 97 and 196.
147 NOBIS The self-important freedman associates himself with his patronus, as slaves often do; e.g. Ter. Hec. 807 ab nostro adfine, Menand. Dysc. 9024,
Hofmann p. 135.
EMUNGERIS You wipe your nose (middle voice; Thes. s.v. 543.24), a sign of
old age (10.199; note gravis there) and lack of mundities (Catull. 23.16 sqq.); cf.
Plaut. MG 647 minime mucidus.
149 sqq. Cf. Plaut. Aul. 498 sqq. |[280]
CALET She is in favour, the opposite of friget. Cf. Tac. Ann. 13.45.4 Otho flagrantissimus in amicitia Neronis habebatur; ibid. 11.29.1; Hofmann p. 154.
REGNAT Cf. 224, Hor. Odes 3.24.19, Ovid Am. 2.19.33, Sen. Contr. 1.6.5 etc.
150 PASTORES sc. Canusinos. She demands that he buys her a sheep-farm at
Canusium in Apulia (RE Canusium 1502.17, the inscription there referred to being
CIL 13.3162; Blmner1 237 and 3 121; ES 5.165, Jones2 354, N. Jacobone Canusium
(1925) 137) and a vineyard in Campania (on 9.567), both distinguished by products of the best quality. Cf. Plaut. Truc. 947 at ego oves et lanam et alia multa quae
poscet dabo.
ULMOS in effect means vites, which would be trained on elms (on 8.78). Juvenals word is chosen for metrical convenience, which is also the reason for the
singular collective OVEM (cf. KS 1.68).
FALERNAS See on 4.138.
151 PUEROS Slaves for personal attendance; she wants all her husbands servants for herself.
ERGASTULA TOTA The barracks of the chain-gangs (on 8.180, 14.23) and all
their contents.
152 DOMI NON EST is not available to her; cf. Fordyce on Catull. 31.14.
HABET sc. quod in the accusative from QUOD in the nominative, a common
idiom in Greek and Latin (KS 2.323, HS 565, Housman on Manil. 3.451).
EMATUR Her own word (cf. 214 and on 98) is more vivid than emi iubet.
153 BRUMAE The shortest day (brevissima), the winter solstice; tempus brumae associated with the giving of presents at the Saturnalia Mart. 8.71.1, 10.14.7
(cf. 12.81.2).
The Saturnalia, an exceptional opportunity for extravagance, were celebrated
as a public holiday from 1719 Dec.; and a fair, called Sigillaria from the statuettes
in clay (sigilla) which were a main article on sale there, went on for four days after
17 Dec. For the purpose of this fair canvas booths (casa candida) were erected near
the Saepta, in the Campus Martius; the effect of these booths was to cover up the

242A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

walls of the porticus Agrippae This porticus was adorned with frescoes representing the voyage of the Argonauts; consequently it was often called the porticus
Argonautarum Duff. On the presents of sigilla see RE Saturnalia 2045, Sigil
laria and sigillum (1), RSV 3.587, Hollis on Ovid AA 1.4079, SG 2.270 = 3.48,
RAC Geschenk 692; on the festival of the Sigillaria Wissowa 206 and Latte 254;
on the portico and the market PlatnerAshby |[281] porticus Argonautarum, Nash
2.2912, Loane 1367, Lamer Ph. Woch. 49, 1929, 825.
MERCATOR IASON Since things are sold in Jasons portico he becomes in a
way a merchant himself; but Juvenal is also hinting at a rationalising and deflating
interpretation of his voyage (cf. 1.10). Similarly the Argonauts are degraded to
nautae (not a word of praise; on 8.174), though they are armati, i.e. unlike ordinary sailors they carry weapons.
CLAUSUS Covered by the canvas (see above); this makes him like a sailor harbour-bound during the period of mare clausum (Casson1 2703, Roug 32 and La
Marine dans lAntiquit (1975) 22).
CASA Cf. Mart. 9.59.4 (also of the Saepta market).
155 TOLLUNTUR sc. a Bibula; she carries them off.
CRYSTALLINA Vessels made of rock-crystal (Blmner2 3.249, M. L. Trowbridge Philological Studies in Ancient Glass (1930) 53 sqq. and 79 sqq.); MURRINA
(cf. 7.133) made of fluorspar (Loewental and Harden JRS 39, 1949, 31; Bromehead
Antiquity 26, 1952, 64; Whittick JRS 42, 1952, 66; Harden ibid. 44, 1954, 53; RE vasa
murrina; Eichholz on Pliny NH 37.21, who also considers agate). The two are often
coupled as being very expensive (Marquardt 7658, Blmner1 4089; in the Saepta
market Mart. 9.59.1314).
156 ADAMAS Usually translated diamond; but the word also seems to embrace white sapphire and haematites.
BERONICE (Bernice is also a well-attested spelling) was the sister of King
Agrippa II of the Jews, with whom she lived so long and so closely as a young widow and later when divorced from her second husband that they were suspected
of incest (with Juvenals words cf. Lucan 8.693 incestae sceptris cessure sorori of
Cleopatra). See PIR2 Iulia 651, RE Berenike no. 15, G. Macurdy AJP 56, 1935, 246
and Vassal Queens (1937) 86. During her involvement with Titus she spent a considerable time at Rome, and a Roman jeweller may well have had for sale a famous
ring once belonging to her and sold by her. Famous ex-owners added to the value
of works of art (on 12.447); cf. the lady who had Cleopatras pearls, SHA 24.32.6.
GESTARE (see the apparatus). This has been rightly described as the best
emendation that has ever been made in Juvenal. The word dropped out after
-cestae, and the consequent stuffing dedit hunc (or hoc, a substantial variant not
recorded by Clausen) absurdly divorces the adjectives from the nouns. For the application of the word to the wearing of rings see Thes. s.v. 1963.31; for the construction of the infinitive 14.29 and Verg. Aen. 12.211 patribusque dedit gestare Latinis.

SATIRE SIX243

15960 A typically Juvenalian circumlocution for Palestine, |[282] meant to

make it sound ridiculous and outlandish, and to contrast ritual purity in absurd
details with incestum.
MERO bare; calce mera Prudent. Perist. 6.91, imitating Juvenal.
SABBATA (14.96) Here apparently in the general sense festival day. Removal
of the shoes was a Jewish sign of respect on holy ground, and according to one section of the Mishnah (ed. H. Danby (1933) 301) that included the Temple in Jerusalem, where every seven years there took place a special festival in which the kings
played an important part (further details in Friedlaender). Alternatively we might
suppose that Juvenal has heard of the occasion when Berenice was discharging a
vow barefoot (Joseph. BJ 2.31213). Lewy Philol. 84, 1929, 390 points out that on
the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, which was called Sabbath of Sabbaths (Leviticus 16.31, 23.32), the wearing of sandals was forbidden (Mishnah p. 171 Danby);
but this could hardly be called FESTA.
160 SENIBUS Proleptic, spares them to grow old. Cf. 14.98; this struck the
Romans as they were themselves pork-eaters (on 11.82).
162 sqq. The list of laudatory epithets reads like an epitaph (Lattimore 295;
add CEL 1502 (= CIL 9.3543), 1988.8). Cf. the praise of a prospective wife in Libanius Decl. 26.9 (6 p. 516 Foerster), and the Roman who divorced a wife who was
, (Plut. Coniug. Praec. 22.141a; , , Vita Aemilii Pauli 5.2), comparing her to a pinching shoe.
FORMOSA, DECENS pulcher ac decens Suet. Dom. 18; GLK 7.530.25 decens
in gestu est et motu corporis, formosus ab excellenti specie dicitur (Thes. decens
135.2934).
FECUNDA See on 2.138; cf. 177 below and contrast 594 sqq.
PORTICIBUS In the peristyle; cf. Blmner1 41 n. 9, Maiuri Parola del Passato 1,
1946, 311, RE Rmisches Haus 986.64 and suppl. 7.964.56. See also on 14.66. Juvenal
is presumably thinking of triumphal statues like those of 7.126.
OMNI any cf. on 8.209. Prop. 2.6.21 intactas Sabinas, cf. Juv. 10.299. Livy 1.13.1
Sabinae mulieres crinibus passis dirimere infestas acies.
165 RARA AVIS Otto avis 2; cf. 7.202, Persius 1.46 and introduction fin. for
Jerome.
NIGRO CYCNO Cf. 7.202, Lucr. 2.824, Ovid Ex Ponto 3.3.96.
166 CONSTANT OMNIA Cf. Ovid Met. 15.258; an accounting metaphor.
MALO, MALO An emphatic epanadiplosis, cf. p. 32.
VENUSTINAM For the name cf. CIL 6.22391 and Kajanto 283; Venusta and
Venustilla are also found. This name represents the woman in the street. Vensinam is unmetrical (see the apparatus). |[283]
CORNELIA MATER GRACCHORUM Cf. CIL 6.31610 = 6.10043b = 12 p.
210.39 = ILS 68 Corneliae Gracchorum on a statue base (see also Pliny NH 34.31,
Plut. C. Gracch. 4.3; Thes. onom. Cornelia 616.69). The use of this title insinuates

244A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

her pride, but Juvenal is forced to weaken his own implication by using the conjunction SI; he does not dare to suggest that such a woman is necessarily proud
(cf. 180).
SUPERCILIUM Pride; 5.62, Pliny NH 11.138, Sittl 94.
TRIUMPHOS All those of the gens Cornelia, and in particular those of her father the elder Scipio, who in 203 surprised Syphax, burnt his camp, and destroyed
his forces, and in 202 defeated Hannibal; cf. Prop. 3.11.59 Hannibalis spolia et victi
monimenta Syphacis.
170 TOLLE Ovid Am. 1.8.66, Trist. 2.280, 5.1.65.
CUM TOTA CARTHAGINE , Carthage and all; cf. 13.61,
14.61.
MIGRA = exi 146; cf. on 9.76.
172 A .
DEA Artemis.
173 NIL FACIUNT are guiltless, commit no facinus; on 638.
MATREM Amphions wife Niobe. An excellent joke; Amphion is like the Roman husbands who cannot bear their wives (Juvenals favourite technique of deflating grand figures of mythology by bringing them down to the domestic level).
Amphion has heard enough from his wife about her exalted family.
174 CONTRAHIT ARCUM Bends the bow by bringing the two ends together.
EXTULIT (567, 1.72) sc. Niobe (177); cf. on 3.93.
GREGES NATORUM Seven sons and seven daughters in the commonest account (for other versions cf. RE Niobe 663.41). Sen. Tro. 32 (spoken by Hecuba)
meorum liberum magni greges; Herc. Fur. 1149 natorum grege (the children of Hercules); Herc. Oet. 1849, on which see Ker CQ2 12, 1962, 51; Ovid Met. 6.198 populo
natorum (of Niobe).
PARENTEM According to Ovid Met. 6.271 Amphion killed himself, but there
are other versions of his end.
176 DUM In a causal sense (429, 1.60, 5.94, 14.92), usually of an action to be
regretted; HS 614, KS 2.377, Thes. 2210.19.
LATONAE Latona Scholte; but the reading of the mss. offers a perfectly natural inexactitude of expression, a kind of comparatio compendiaria; cf. 7.72.
GENTE Niobe was proud of being the daughter of Tantalus (Ovid Met. 6.172
6, 185).
177 The white sow of 12.724, Verg. Aen. 3.390, 8.45 and 81; for Latins lack of
the definite article cf. on 15.7. The undignified comparison ridicules her pride,
and so does the vocabulary; SCROFA is |[284] a word of the farmyard (in 12.73 it is
another piece of deflation of mythology).
178 is worth having it for ever thrown in your teeth; see on 3.54 and for imputare on 5.14.
179 HUIUS BONI uxoris gravis et formosae, whence the feminine CORRUPTA

SATIRE SIX245

(cf. 4.41).
180 QUOTIENS Cf. on si 168.
181 Love is notoriously , it has both fel and mel (Otto mel 3, Enk
on Plaut. Truc. 178, Korzeniewski Gymn. 83, 1976, 289, Meleager AP 12.81.2 =
GowPage HE 4459). Cf. Plut. Coniug. Praec. 28.142a
; a Strasburg papyrus contains a number of distichs hostile
to women, one of which (Arch. Pap.-Forsch. 2, 1903, 191) is:
36 .

[] .
DEDITUS enslaved; cf. 206, Catull. 61.98 = 102.
USQUE ADEO See on 5.129.
183 Seven hours per day (ablative of duration of time), i.e. more than half the
day (Paulus Dig. 50.16.2 cuiusque diei maior pars est horarum septem primarum
diei, non supremarum); for in with the accus. after distributive numerals cf. Thes.
s.v. 755.35 (and see also dies 1040.78).
185 Rancidus, like putidus, is applied to affectation in bad taste; Pers. 1.33, Gellius 18.11.2. Mart. 10.68 criticises a lady for her use of endearments like
(i.e. mea vita), words which ought to be kept for bed (cf. 191, 195); her mother is an
Etruscan. Juvenals point is that even provincial ladies wish to speak Greek, and
pure Attic at that. Cf. Heliodor. 8.6.4 , Machon 223 Gow;
for other Greek endearments Lucr. 4.1160 sqq.
186 GRAECULA See on 3.78.
187 GRAECE sc. loquuntur.
188 A prosy interpolation intended to explain Juvenals point (CUM although) and separating the inseparable Graece and hoc sermone (cf. on 138) with
the confusing interjection of another language. The interpolator may have had in
mind Cic. Brut. 140 non enim tam praeclarum est scire Latine quam turpe nescire;
the thought is totally different but the verbal resemblance is clear.
MAGIS quam nescire Graece.
189 PAVENT they express fear, crying etc. (Duff).
190 EFFUNDUNT, indicating thoughtless volubility, goes well with SECRETA.
QUID ULTRA 8.200; CONCUMBUNT GRAECE cf. 406.
195 LODICE 7.66. RELICTIS is clearly corrupt, as Housman saw. |[285] Lascivious words used in turba are not left under the blanket; they are inexcusably
impudica because they come from an octogenarian who is past intercourse either
in Greek or Latin; and ENIM 196 is senseless as the text stands. Ferendis does not
carry full conviction but is certainly on the right lines. MODO will now mean
only, not lately.
197 NEQUAM lascivious as often; similarly nequitia. DIGITOS HABET
10.206. The whole passage has similarities with Mart. 6.23 (4 te contra facies impe-

246A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

riosa tua est, cf. Juv. 199), 11.29, 12.97.89.

UT TAMEN 10.354; the type of purpose clause discussed on 15.89. So that you
dont become over-excited, <I must point out to you that> facies tua computat
annos.
198 SUBSIDANT PINNAE The opposite of 4.70 surgebant cristae.
MOLLIUS Cf. O 23; HAEMO 3.99, an actor; CARPOPHORUS is unknown.
199 COMPUTAT ANNOS 10.249.
2006 SI SI A dilemma. In such cases the second horn is often introduced
by sin (a word not used by Juvenal), but the number of exceptions is so large that
it is hard to ascribe them all to textual corruption; cf. HS 669, KS 2.431, Sjgren on
Cic. Ad Fam. 1.7.5.
PACTAM Cf. on 25; TABELLIS sc. nuptialibus (on 2.119).
CENAM sc. nuptialem; usually given in the house of the brides parents, but
sometimes in that of the bridegroom, as here (Blmner1 357 n. 8, Marquardt 53).
Cf. 2.11920.
MUSTACEA A kind of cake in which mustum or mustax, a type of laurel, was
an ingredient; a recipe Cato De Agr. 121. They evidently had some association with
marriage; Vespa Iudicium Coci et Pistoris (Anth. Lat. 199) 49 sponsae mustacea
mitto. why you should waste the dinner and the cakes which you must present
to the guests (i.e. as apophoreta) after a good dinner when the company is dropping off.
OFFICIO See on 2.132; here of the guests = officiosi, cf. 10.45, Pliny Pan. 76.9
and often. For abstract nouns used as concrete collectives see HS 747, KS 1.81.
CRUDIS (on 1.143) They have not yet digested the meal, hinting that they have
already had more than enough to eat.
2035 Amphis ap. Pollux 3.36 mentions ; see further L. Mitteis Reichsrecht und Volksrecht (1891) 273 and add Pap. Soc. Ital. 1075 (fifth century) a . The late law concerning dona nuptialia discusses a praemium
pudicitiae (Corbett 205), and at the end of antiquity the Germanic invaders gave
Latin the word morganegyba (see Thes. s.v.). The present consists of aurei issued
by Trajan and bearing his agnomina and image; he took the title of |[286] Germanicus in 97 at the end of the Suebian war and of Dacicus in 102. The lanx is given as
part of the gift, cf. Mart. Spect. 29.6.
BEATA See on 1.39; SCRIPTO cf. tituli 14.290 and Stat. Silv. 3.3.105.
206 The asyndeton is harsh, and Ruperti suggested punctuating (simplicitas
uxoria!); for a very similar exclamation in the nominative cf. Ter. Ad. 3901. This
however leaves the two datives TIBI and UNI unpleasantly belonging in the same
clause. One might consider est <si>; for elision of long before short here cf. 1.73,
6.50, 14.76, and for elision of a monosyllable (not however long) before short 5.59.
2078 SUBMITTE CAPUT Cf. 43; FERRE IUGUM cf. 13.212. The metaphor
of a yoked pair is continually applied to marriage (cf. Thes. 7.2.641.27, Nisbet

SATIRE SIX247

Hubbard on Hor. Odes 1.33.11, Xen. Oec. 7.18, 19, 28), but in Juvenals eyes
only one is yoked, and that one not, as is usual, the woman (cf. Ov. Her. 6.97).
PARCAT AMANTI Plaut. Asin. 177 quae amanti parcet, eadem sibi parcet
parum.
210 SPOLIIS sc. amantis; cf. 232, 149 sqq.
21011 She will impose on his good nature.
21213 A double chiasmus.
214 ADFECTUS Here in the neutral sense of likes and dislikes, cf. Lucan 10.94;
not in the common Silver sense of affection (on 12.10, 15.150). Cf. Plut. Coniug.
Praec. 19.140d a wife should share her husbands friends.
EXCLUDATUR The direct command as 152.
215 Who visited you even in his youth while his beard was allowed to grow (on
4.103). IAM SENIOR Cf. 8.153.
21617 Lenones and lanistae (O 7) belong to the most contemptible of professions, Sen. Ep. 87.15; the lex Iulia municipalis (CIL 12 593.123 = ILS 6085 = FIRA 1
no. 13 p. 149) excludes them from office (cf. Carcopino 237, Balsdon1 293). HARE
NAE = gladiatoribus (cf. Petron. 126.6); 3.1568 couples leno, lanista, gladiator.
But Juvenals statement is grossly exaggerated to accentuate the husbands subjection; most gladiators, being slaves, could not make a will.
218 NON UNUS, 3.151, 8.213. The married man is virtually intestabilis.
219 Soon after this Hadrian is said to have prohibited a slaves execution without trial (SHA 1.18.7). For a husband restraining his wife cf. Plut. Cons. Uxor.
4.609c.
21920 The breathless questions resemble 10.6970.
AUDI Hear what he has to say.
221 LONGUS often implies over-long (OLD 12). Amm. Marc. 29.2.18 de vita
et spiritu hominis laturum sententiam diu multumque cunctari oportet. |[287]
222 ITA In an indignant question, as often itane; Thes. s.v. 522.12.
HOMO To the lawyers a slave is res mortalis (Ulpian Dig. 4.4.11.45), the view
which prevailed in Greece (Aristotle Pol. 1.4.1253b and Eth. Nic. 8.13.1161b
or ; cf. Varro RR 1.17.1). Yet for homo applied colloquially to
a slave cf. Catull. 10.15 (see Thes. s.v. 2888.67; even in lawyers, VIR s.v. IV col.
258), and in the first century A.D. a humanitarian recognition of his status as a
fellow-man came into being, due particularly to Stoic influence; 14.16, Sen. Ep.
47.1, De Clem. 1.18.2, De Ben. 3.22.3, Petron. 71, Florus 2.8.1. A slave lays claim to
this status Plaut. Asin. 490. This idea finds only isolated utterance in Greece (Philemon fr. 22 K and E). Cf. Marquardt 191, Westermann 116. Hrtel
Klio 59, 1977, 338.
223 VOLUNTAS takes up VOLO. She is like the sovereign people which, when
a law is put to the vote, is asked velitis iubeatis? (Mommsen1 3.312).
224 IMPERAT VIRO So did all Roman women, according to Cato (Plut. Reg.

248A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

et Imp. Apophthegm. 198d). For REGNA cf. 149.

225 PERMUTAT Cf. 94, [Quintil.] Decl. 2.7.
FLAMMEA CONTERIT wears out her wedding veil (2.124) by using it in so
many marriage ceremonies.
INDE From her new home.
226 AVOLAT Cf. Plut. Amatorius 7.752f.
VESTIGIA The imprint which her weight has left on the bed; a common idea
(Shackleton Bailey and Enk on Prop. 2.9.45).
2278 are a superfluous elaboration awkwardly placed. Before the laurel garlands (on 51) decorating the door of her second bridegrooms house have withered, she is off again.
VELA Decorated awnings.
229 Satirists and moralists naturally name the highest number of divorces they
can (SG 1.243 = 1.285, Blmner1 363, Marquardt 72; ten Mart. 6.7.4). But comparable historical instances are known; Vistilia (Pliny NH 7.39) married six times, and
Nero was the fifth husband of Statilia Messalina.
FIUNT An arithmetical term; the total is reached. Cf. Thes. facio 100.51.
230 AUTUMNOS i.e. annos (Thes. s.v. 1604.79); similarly by synecdoche the
other seasons are often used to indicate the whole year.
TITULO (10.143) The distinction of these women is very different from that
idealised by conventional tombstones, to have had only one husband. Such women are praised as univirae, unicubae, uniiugae; cf. on 534. See Marquardt 42 n. 6,
SG 1.265 = 1.314, RAC Digamus 1017, Humbert 62, N. Rudd Lines of Enquiry (1976)
42, Kajanto in |[288] Mlanges M. Durry (1970), 111, Ktting in Romanitas et Christianitas (Studia Waszinck, 1973) 195, Bmer on Ovid Fasti 6.231.
231 CONCORDIA Which one expects in marriage; Thes. 85.5, Bmer on Ovid
Met. 7.752, 8.708.
SALVA i.e. superstite cf. 30 etc.
23241 Cf. 14.2530.
SPOLIIS Cf. 210; NUDI proleptic.
233 CORRUPTORE Cf. 1.77, 4.8, 10.304. By implying that he takes the initiative
the word hints at a young inexperienced wife.
TABELLIS Love-letters; cf. 141, 277, 9.36, 14.29, Marquardt 804.
234 Not to say yes or no outright; Ovid AA 3.475. For the combination RUDIS
and SIMPLEX cf. Ovid Am. 2.4.18.
235 CUSTODES Cf. O 32. There are countless references to such male chaperons in the elegists (e.g. Ovid AA 3.611 sqq.), Martial mentions them 1.73, 10.69,
and there is a historical case at Tac. Ann. 11.35.3 (cf. also the of Plut. Mar.
16.7).
TUM IACTAT The subject is still socrus (Gnilka WS 81, 1968, 194 sqq.).
explains simulat aegritudinem socrus ut habeat facultatem ad se filia veniendi

SATIRE SIX249

causa adulterii, a common stratagem (Ovid Am. 2.2.21, AA 3.641; Mart. 11.7.7).
Presumably the adulterer has to hide so that there will be as few confidants as
possible.
TUM This form is preferable before a guttural (Housman xxixxii), though
mss. are unanimous at 11.110, 13.40.
CORPORE SANO Concessive; cf. Ovid Am. 2.19.11.
ARCHIGENEN See on 13.98.
PALLIA Being oblong (unlike the curved toga), this type of cloak could be used
as a blanket; Prop. 4.3.31, Ovid Am. 1.2.2, Her. 21.170 etc. Vestimenta sometimes
means bedclothes; for see Gow on Theocr. 18.18.
237 For the pleonasm cf. Cic. Pro Rab. Perd. Reo 21 inclusum atque abditum
latere in occulto. This line and the next are remarkably similar in rhythm; cf. 11.68
and 71, 11.11011, 11.1423, the recurring bucolic diaereses in 11.1717, 12.1012,
15.1501, and for the recurrence of et in the same position 10.1657.
IMPATIENSQUE MORAE A common combination; cf. 327, Sil. It. 84 impatiensque morae fremit.
239 SCILICET EXPECTAS Cf. 75, 14.25 (in a similar context), Ovid Trist.
3.13.13.
241 PRODUCERE 8.271, 14.228. The daughter is (Semonides 7.12);
Plaut. Asin. 544 audientem dicto, mater, produxisti filiam, Sen. De Rem. Fort. 16.7
duc bene institutam nec maternis inquinatam vitiis.
FILIOLAM A diminutive for metrical convenience (matched by VETULAE),
perhaps also hinting at false endearments, |[289]
2425 A difficult passage of which the exact sense is hard to grasp. Juvenal flatly
contradicts 2.512 (q.v.) unless he merely means that women are the power behind
a man of straw, like Clodia in the case of Caelius; for women in the courts see
Mommsen2 369 (who however is wrong to see in Juvenal an allusion to the case recorded in Gellius 4.14). The most obvious interpretation is that a woman is behind
every case that comes to court (cherchez la femme), but Duff takes the meaning
to be There is hardly any matter about which a woman will not stir up a law-suit
(MOVERIT potential, , not generic). I do not see however how a
Roman reader could have been expected to understand this.
2445 Such a rhetorically educated woman was Statilia Messalina ( on 434).
PRNCIPIUM A technical term for the exordium (Quintil. 4.1.1) or part of it
(ibid. 42); cf. Volkmann 137, Lausberg p. 784.
LOCOS is also a technical term with various nuances (see Bonnells lexicon
to Quintilian pp. 4978 and Halms index s.v.; Lausberg p. 740); Juvenal is most
likely to have in mind either loci communes or the argumentorum loci.
CELSO The writer on rhetoric A. Cornelius Celsus often mentioned by Quintilian (Marx Celsus vii, xix, 41112; SchanzHosius 2 p. 722, TeuffelKroll 2 p. 197,
RE Cornelius no. 82) or one of the two jurists P. Iuventius Celsus, father and

250A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

son (RE nos. 12 and 13, PIR2 I nos. 880 and 882), of whom the son was Juvenals
contemporary? A teacher of rhetoric is more in point here; these women are prepared to teach eloquence to a master of the art Duff; likewise . Against this it is
argued that Celsus was a purely theoretical writer and that he lived too early to be
mentioned by Juvenal in such a context, where Juvenals exemplum would be likely to be Quintilian; compare also the title of a play by Titinius Iurisperita. But the
technical terms indicate that Juvenal is thinking of the speech delivered in court,
and that was the business of professional orators, not of jurists.
COMPONUNT LIBELLOS Either they prepare the documents (cf. 7.107)
for their advocate without professional advice (cf. Quintil. 12.8.5 pessimae consuetudinis libellis esse contentum quos componit litigator), or they write the actual
speech (Pliny Ep. 7.30.45 libellos meos de ultione Helvidii cum componerem
illos). The former is more likely as with libelli Pliny is thinking of the published
version. The phrase could also refer to the framing of a petition or accusation (so
RE libellus 60, comparing Apul. Apol. 102; add Frag. Vat. 166 = FIRA 2 p. 499), but
this is less suitable to the rhetorical terms. Pliny Ep. 7.12.1 libellum formatum a me
seems to refer to a treatise on rhetoric. |[290]
246 Juvenal uses the rhetorical question QUIS NESCIT (15.1) to convey without distinctly stating that such athletic women are notorious, though in 2.53 he
had said that they are rare; one is ridiculed by Martial 7.67, and here too the Greek
words indicate ridicule. For female athletics cf. Balsdon1 167 and Suet. Dom. 4.4
ENDROMIDAS 3.103; a thick wrap put on in the intervals of severe exercise
to guard against a chill (RE s.v., Blmner1 220, Radermacher Rh. Mus. 57, 1902,
146). It was usually of rough plain stuff (Mart. 4.19.3), but these ladies wear one of
highly elegant purple.
CEROMA This word is discussed by Reinmuth Phoenix 21, 1967, 191, who argues that it means a kind of earth used as a covering of the wrestling-floor and
translates the womens wrestling-school with its muddy ring. It is applied to the
ring, to the abstract wrestling, and even to a wrestler (Mart. 5.65.4); see Friedlaender on Mart. 4.19.5, Lauffer Edict. Diocl. p. 241, Juv. 3.68.
247 Juvenal passes to gladiatorial activity (Balsdon1 1678, 2901), marking off
the section by ring-composition (PALUS 247 and 267; cf. on 11112). See on 1.22.
PALI A wooden stump on which the gladiator practised his cuts and thrusts
with a wooden sword (RUDIS; see RE s.v. (2)); cf. RE suppl, 3.776, Balsdon1 161
and 294, SG 2.567 = 2.689 and add Mart. 7.32.8, Lucian Demonax 38, Stat. Silv.
4 praef. palaris lusio.
ASSIDUIS RUDIBUS Continual blows with the rudis.
SCUTOQUE LACESSIT She imitates the manoeuvre often employed in combat of using the shield to push over the adversary.
249 NUMEROS literally rhythm, is a technical word for the prescribed
rhythmical movements of the fencing or wrestling school Duff; cf. Quintil. 10.1.4,

SATIRE SIX251

12.2.12, Sen. De Ben. 7.1.4, Veget. 1.4. The sentence drifts away from the relative
pronoun, cf. KS 2.325.
24950 meretrices nam Floralibus ludis armis certabant gladiatoriis atque
pugnabant ; this, though not elsewhere attested, is necessarily correct (Gnilka
WS 81, 1968, 199). MATRONA, i.e. though not a meretrix. The Floralia (14.262)
were held 28 April3 May, and meretrices played a prominent part; so the juxtaposition FLORALI MATRONA is paradoxical.
TUBA All public shows began with the blowing of trumpets; cf. 10.214, 3.34,
Mart. Spect. 28.2, Verg. Aen. 5.113, RE suppl, 3.781.32, SG 2.60 = 2.73.
250 NISI SI She is quite fit to take part in the feigned fights of the Floralia; but
perhaps she actually wants to fight in the real arena.
2524 should be placed in parenthesis (see introduction). They may be punctuated in three ways: (1) as in Clausen, (2) pudorem? |[291] quae fugit a sexu, vires
amat., (3) pudorem, quae fugit a sexu, vires amat? The third seems best; with the
first and second we have to understand vires amat, ergo uiros, which is still hardly
a satisfactory answer to the question. With the third vires amat is comparable with
ferrum est quod amant 112, specifically contrasted with affection for the wielder
of the ferrum. In that case the question is merely rhetorical; this entirely suits the
confused, illogical and prejudiced argumentation in this passage.
254 Cf. the spurious 11.168. This is the question which Tiresias was asked to
decide (Ovid Met. 3.320).
255 AUCTIO Not a sign of insolvency, but a common means of getting rid of
superfluous property. There is a fine discussion of the place of auctions in Roman
life by Mommsen Ges. Schr. 3.225 = Hermes 12, 1877, 98; cf. SG 1.155 = 1.173, Loane
1513, Thielmann.
2556 This, plus the shield of 248, composes the armour of the gladiators called
Samnites; SG 4.1745 = 4.262, RE suppl. 3.777 and s.vv. Samnes and manicae
1113.10. Livy 9.40 describes the armament of the Samnite army and sees it as the
fore-runner of that of the gladiators, but his account is an unhistorical retrojection (E. T. Salmon Samnium and the Samnites (1967) 102).
BALTEUS The sword-belt; MANICAE rings of armour worn round the right
arm, the left being protected by the shield; CRISTAE (on 3.158) on the helmet
(Salmon 108); CRURIS TEGIMEN the greave, worn on the leg which in fighting stance would be advanced; DIMIDIUM on the lower part of the leg, since the
shield protected above the knee (Salmon 104 and 110).
2578 Alternatively she may be a Thraex; these gladiators, unlike the Samnites,
wore greaves on both legs (SG 4.176 = 4.263, RE Thraex and suppl. 3.778; cf. on
8.201).
PUELLA Cf. on 2.59; a comic use of a term of endearment, familiar in erotic
poetry, for such a woman.
25960 Again the critical Greek words (on 246). CYCLADE (sc.

252A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

); the word is not found in this sense in Greek, though (RE s.v.) is.
It is a robe named from a fringe of purple or gold embroidery which ran round it,
cf. DS s.v.; explained as circumtextum by Serv. Aen. 1.649.
260 DELICIAS On 10.291.
PANNICULUS A significant diminutive (but the big words and absence of
third-foot caesura represent it as a burden to the women); BOMBYCINUS therefore very light (Mart. 8.33.15 and Pliny quoted on 2.70) .
URIT galls Hor. Epist 1.10.43, 1.13.6; Prop. 4.3.23.
261 MONSTRATOS PERFERAT (cf. 392, 7.153) ICTUS Cf. 5.122; her |[292]
trainer stands by her and by his dictata (Petron. 45, Suet. Iul. 26.3) instructs her
in the thrusts.
263 QUAM DENSO LIBRO Ablative of quality; see the size and thickness of
pith of the bandages adjusted round her legs. As protection for her legs she wears
fasciae made of bark, like cricket-pads.
SEDEAT Cf. Mart. 7.1.4.
264 SCAPHIUM Used only by women, while the lasanum belonged to men;
Henderson 191, Blmner1 148 n. 2, Hilgers 271, RE Skaphe 441. They were of different shapes.
265 DICITE VOS Cf. 8.56; LEPIDI cf. 8.9.
CAECIVE METELLI 3.139; the pontifex maximus L. Caecilius (RE no. 72) Metellus, who in 241 B.C. rescued the Palladium when the temple of Vesta was burnt.
Since men were not supposed to see this image, the rhetoricians (Sen. Contr. 4.2)
invented the story (on a Greek model, like so much Roman mythology; cf. [Plut.]
Parallela Graeca et Romana 17.309f) that he was blinded as a punishment by the
goddess and took the agnomen Caecus; but Ovid Fasti 6.453 rejects this, and Metellus was later (224 B.C.) dictator (Leuze Philol. 64, 1905, 102). See Leuze l.c. 95
sqq., Bmer on Ovid l.c. 437, Morgan CQ2 24, 1974, 13941.
266 Q. Fabius (RE no. 112) Maximus Gurges, cos. 292 and 276 B.C. (and 265,
unless that is his son; Broughton 1 p. 202), won victories over the Samnites, Lucanians and Bruttians and was princeps senatus. Note firstly that Juvenal gives his
names in the common Silver style, cognomen before nomen; secondly that the
Fabii and the Metelli were now extinct.
LUDIA Cf. 104; here clearly of the contubernalis (which is what is meant by
UXOR) of a gladiator.
267 GEMAT The gasping caused by severe exercise, Cic. Tusc. 2.56, Sen. Ep.
56.1.
ASYLI nomen gladiatoris ; a slave-name (Thes. s.v.).
268 LITES IURGIA Cf. 35, Ovid AA 2.153, Plut. Coniug. Praec. 39.143e, Plaut.
Men. 76571, Cas. 317; Varius Geminius ap. Jerome Adv. Iovin. 1.28 qui non litigat
caelebs est. Yet epitaphs often record that married pairs lived sine lite, sine iurgio
(Lattimore 279, cf. Pliny Ep. 8.5.1); perhaps this is protesting too much.

SATIRE SIX253

270 ORBA TIGRIDE PEIOR Mart. 3.44.6 non tigris orba natis sic timetur;
Sen. Med. 861. The theme of the tigress chasing the hunter who has stolen her
cubs appealed to the Romans (Mart. 8.26, Val. Fl. 1.489 etc.). For further details
see Friedlaender and SG 4.189 (not in ed. 10); Jennison 147, Otto Nachtrge 19,
Toynbee 72, Walter Rh. Mus. 118, 1975, 156.
271 This line should be followed by a full stop; 272 is epexegetic. |[293] Women
according to Alexis ap. Athen. 13.558e .
FACTI Her own misconduct; cf. 279, 13.193, Ovid Am. 1.8.7980.
272 Ovid AA 3.677 accedant lacrimae dolor et de paelice fictus.
ODIT abuses cf. 3.214; PUEROS slaves, the mans homosexual partners (cf.
34), cf. Petron. 74.
274 The tears are sentries in the war of the sexes, and such faked weeping is
often mentioned as a device; e.g. Petron. 17.2 lacrimas ad ostentationem doloris
paratas.
ILLAM IUBEAT For this type of prolepsis see HS 471.
275 A semi-colon in the middle of the line would be preferable.
276 TIBI PLACES You preen yourself cf. 10.41, Ovid RA 286, AA 3.679.
URUCA caterpillar; a term of abuse you worm, of the cringing abased husband. Cf. the Plautine parasite Curculio and Hofmann pp. 88, 194. [Addendum,
originally on p. 623: OMara CP 74, 1979, 242 supports (tum) curuca from medi
aeval authors, who apply the word to the bird (the warbler?) which has the cuckoos eggs substituted for its own. But this word probably came into existence
merely from imaginative glosses on the corrupt reading of this line; Papias, who
is quoted as an authority for it, is known to have used Juvenal glosses. Compare
how the word caeruleus acquired existence and a meaning (bestia marina) from
the corrupt reading of 15.7.]
LABELLIS A caressing diminutive. For kissing away her tears cf. Ovid AA
2.326, Fasti 3.509.
277 LECTURE Attracted from the nominative, cf. on 4.24. The future participle
is conditional, cf. on 4.9; note that in Latin an exclamation need not depend on the
main verb of the sentence.
TABELLAS Cf. 233.
278 TIBI Dative of agent; for SCRINIA cf. RE s.v., Blmner1 132.
ZELOTYPAE is usually applied to the aggrieved party (cf. 8.197), so its combination with MOECHAE is paradoxical. Cf. 5.45; the word is post-Augustan
though Cicero uses . There is no Latin word which exactly expresses the
jealousy of lovers Duff.
279 SED suddenly alters the situation and introduces a new possibility Weidner, who compares 4.72, 7.32. The new situation contrasts with that of 271; the
factum is no longer occultum.
SERVI EQUITIS She is presumably a senators wife, like Eppia; for the class

254A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

of women envisaged by Juvenal see p. 222. She is not interested in ordinary plebeians, but all slave-societies show instances of slaves attractive to their mistresses
(cf. SG 1.244 = 1.287 and e.g. Herodas 5).
DIC, DIC Cf. 393; Wlfflin 293 remarks (without further detail) that poets soften the gemination of monosyllabic imperatives by placing them as here. For DIC
SODES cf. Hofmann 124.
QUINTILIANE The master of rhetoric (7.186).
COLOREM line of defence cf. 7.155; in Greek . Cf. Sen. Contr. 2.1.27
Fuscus Arellius hunc colorem dixit. It indicates the favourable light in which a
speaker endeavours to place an action which he is defending, e.g. Quintil. 3.8.44,
4.2.88 sqq.; Thes. s.v. 1721.62, |[294] Austin on Quintil. 12.1.33, Volkmann 113, Lausberg p. 511, S. F. Bonner Roman Declamation (1949) 556.
281 HAEREMUS Quintilian and I; but I should prefer to put the word within
inverted commas and make it Quintilians answer.
CONVENERAT As part of the conventum (25). The pluperfect here is in sense
merely a strengthened perfect reinforcing the idea of remoteness (OLIM); on 9.96.
283 MARE CAELO CONFUNDAS See on 2.25; the husband may raise a storm.
HOMO SUM humanum est errare; cf. Thes. homo 2880.10, humanus 3092.6;
Otto homo 2 and 3, Nachtrge 57, 105, 171; Herodas 5.27 in a similar context. Cf.
Eur. Hippol. 439 ; .
NIHIL is often used in such sweeping statements, usually with a comparative,
where strict logic might suggest a masculine; cf. 460, 10.278, KS 2.466, Hofmann
p. 90, Greene CR1 18, 1904, 448. For such audacia cf. Apul. Met. 2.29 fin., Tac. Ann.
11.26.2 flagitiis manifestis subsidium ab audacia petendum; attack is the best form
of defence.
285 ANIMOS Juvenal could just as well have written animum (cf. 97); metrical
convenience probably dictated the choice (cf. Stat. Th. 11.525), which supports A
(cf. Ovid Met. 6.474; either Ovid or Juvenal may be Cyprians source). The imitations by Dracontius, who had read Juvenal, have de.
286 MONSTRA Cf. 84, 645; FONTE cf. fluxit 295. Juvenal seems to be adapting
Prop. 3.13.1 quaeritis unde avidis nox sit pretiosa puellis 4 luxuriae nimium libe
ra facta via est, cf. the description of primitive lovers 356 with the beginning of
this poem, and 59 utinam patriae sim vanus (verus codd.) haruspex with Juv. 638.
28793 Note the chiastic sequence paupertas, bellum, pax, luxuria.
288 CONTINGI Cf. 5.128, Tac. Dial. 12; did not allow humble homes to be
polluted.
LABOR SOMNIQUE BREVES The opposite of languor et immodici somni
Ovid RA 145. For similar remarks in moralising historians see Vell. Pat. 2.1.1 in
somnum a vigiliis conversa civitas, Sall. Cat. 13.3 dormire prius quam somni
cupido esset, Aurel. Vict. 1.4 ad somnum intemperanties.
289 TUSCO Etruscan sheep and wool had no reputation; Juvenal means or-

SATIRE SIX255

dinary rough wool from the neighbourhood of the city, not imported fine wool.
The durae manus of Allia Potestas (CEL 1988.24) were presumably caused by her
wool-working (ibid. 14); cf. Ovid Fasti 4.7734 lana ad teneras quamlibet apta
manus. Spinning wool was the traditional occupation of Roman women, often
mentioned |[295] on tombstones as a sign of virtue, e.g. CIL 6.3.15346 = CEL 52.8
= ILS 8403 domum servavit, lanam fecit, CEL 471.8 = CIL 6.23852, Lattimore 297,
Marquardt 58, Blmner1 342 and 364, SG 1.229 and 266 = 1.269 and 316, DS lana
920b. By now of course it was no longer a living tradition.
2901 TURRE The gate-tower; when Hannibal made his dash for Rome in 211
B.C. (7.162) the Roman army was camped between the Colline and Esquiline gates
(Livy 26.10). The viewpoint is traditional; Sall. Iug. 41.2 metus hostilis in bonis artibus civitatem retinebat, Florus 1.31.5, Ogilvie on Livy 1.19.4. In the view of many
historians security brings , and that moral decline (so in a context of sexual
morals Clem. Alex. Paed. 3.3.21.3); cf. Vell. Pat. l.c. on 288, Sall. l.c. and Cat. 10,
Marquardt 63, Lintott Historia 21, 1972, 627, Fuchs HSCP 63, 1958, 366, La Penna
Parola del Passato 31, 1976, 232, Frank Prudentia 8, 1976, 1.
LONGAE PACIS MALA The view of Tacitus too (Syme1 218 n. 6, Ogilvie
Richmond on Agr. 11.4), cf. Sen. Ep. 73.6, Vell. Pat. 2.110.2 Pannonia insolens longae pacis bonis (ironically reversed by Juvenals MALA). It is pointless to look for
historical precision in these commonplaces and enquire when Juvenal envisaged
Roman decline as beginning; in a similar context Polyb.
32.13.6 B-W means about 35 years.
293 INCUBUIT Like a hostile army.
VICTUMQUE ULCISCITUR ORBEM Because it is imported from it (298).
294 CRIMEN FACINUSQUE With genitive 493, cf. Thes. 6.1.81.44.
295 PAUPERTAS (on 9.147) ROMANA The ideal of the peasant-farmer community of early Rome, cf. Sen. Ep. 87.41, Livy pr. 11, Val. Max. 4.4, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 1.12.42; inculcated by Horace Odes 3.2.1.
PERT See on 3.174.
HINC ex paupertate perdita; FLUXIT cf. on 286.
ISTOS i.e. hos (on 4.67), cf. collibus istis 14.179 (not in this sense), his collibus
9.131.
2967 The cities are Italian, Greek, Greek, Italian.
SYBARIS The Sybaritic way of life, cf. Philostr. Apollon. 4.20, LSJ II and Otto
s.v.
HINC ET HINC ET An unusual form of anaphora; it is a variant of
the type iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna (Thes. et 887.32); cf. also Aen.
10.369.
RHODOS Cf. 8.113; on Rhodian luxury cf. also Plut. De Cupid. Divit. 5.525b.
MILETOS Cf. the proverb , , and |[296] Athen.
12.523e. But Rhodes and Miletus were not notorious for depravity; to Juvenal any

256A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Greek city will serve this purpose.

297 For the reputation of Tarentum see P. Wuilleumier Tarente (1939) 229
sqq., esp. 232; molle Tarentum Hor. Serm. 2.4.34. Juvenal probably has in mind
particularly the occasion at the outbreak of the Pyrrhic war when the Tarentines
insulted the Roman ambassadors in the theatre (Dio Cass. fr. 39.5 = 1.114.10 Boissevain; Wuilleumier 104). They were then wearing garlands (CORONATUM) as
it was a festival of Dionysus, but garlands in general go with drinking (5.36, 9.128,
15.50).
PETULANS Cf. 3.278 ebrius ac petulans; MADIDUM primarily indicates intoxication (15.47), but perhaps also hints at perfumes and unguents (15.50; Sidon.
Apoll. Carm. 5.430 uncta Tarentos).
298 OBSCENA Filthy, i.e. bringing filth; funesta 1.113. So MOLLES 300 in effect
means making effeminate.
PEREGRINOS Livy 39.6.7 luxuriae peregrinae (187 B.C.).
300 VENUS EBRIA i.e. a lustful woman when drunk; this phrase of elevated
diction in the middle of a sordid context unites the themes of luxuria and impudicitia. Cf. Val. Max. 2.1.5 proximus a Libero patre intemperantiae gradus ad
inconcessam uenerem esse consuevit; 9.1 pr. iungatur illi (i.e. luxuriae) libido quoniam ex isdem vitiorum principiis oritur; Sen. Ep. 83.19.
301 Such a woman is prepared not only for normal intercourse but also for
fellatio (cf. on 49). Acro quotes this line on Hor. Odes 1.18.10 fas atque nefas exiguo
fine libidinum / discernunt.
302 MEDIIS IAM NOCTIBUS Cf. 4.137 (where again Falernian wine is mentioned); it is already midnight before they have realised it, the party is so wild that
time flies unnoticed; the oysters are to satisfy the alia fames (cf. Petron. 70 and the
next note). The Romans in general kept early hours, and a commissatio prolonged
to such an hour was in itself scandalous. Seneca Ep. 95.21 says of women non minus (sc. quam viri) pervigilant, non minus potant; et oleo et mero viros provocant
Duff. Cynthia drinks even during mediae noctes Prop. 2.33.25.
303 MERO Wine undiluted with water. For the mixing of wine and perfumes
( ()) cf. Petron. 70 (in a similar context), Blmner1 203, MarescalchiDalmasso 30, Marquardt 460, Billiard 504, Andr on Pliny NH 14.107. The
word is dative, cf. Prop. 2.4.5, not ablative as 5.86, 14.66.
304 CONCHA Cf. 419 and RE s.v.; Paulus Sent. 3.6.90 quae ad poculorum speciem comparata sunt velut conchae; Hilgers 50 and 151; HeadlamKnox on Herodas 1.79 list many kinds of drinking vessels named after shells (cf. Suidas 3 p. 91 no.
1289 ). |[297] Here however there is a contrast with the usual small
drinking-cup (for Jeromes phrase non calice sorbere sed concha see BICS 22, 1975,
162 n. 4). The concha is a large broad shell-shaped vessel which might be used to
hold scent (Hor. Odes 2.7.22, where see NisbetHubbard); they pour the wine into
the scent-vessel (note the singular) and all drink from it, as the guests do from the

SATIRE SIX257

large at Plato Symp. 214a, cf. LSJ I. Vollgraff Mnem.2 49, 1921,
78 thinks that the concha was used for libations.
3045 VERTIGINE TECTUM AMBULAT Cf. Sen. Ep. 83.21; Theognis 505
; Lucian Dial. Marin. 2.2.
EXSURGIT One lamp on top of the other.
GEMINIS LUCERNIS Hor. Serm. 2.1.24, Petron. 64, Strato AP 12.199.3.
306 I NUNC ET DUBITA Ovid AA 2.222, Mart. 8.63.3; see on 12.57.
SANNA She sniffs; Jahn on Pers. 1.62, Sittl 86 sqq. Normally in passing a temple or altar one would kiss the hand as a gesture of respect (on 1.116; Appel 59 and
199, Sittl 182, RE suppl. 5.518).
3078 With 307 placed before 308 we must punctuate either

qua sorbeat aera sanna
Tullia, quid dicat notae collactea Maurae
Maura, Pudicitiae
or

collactea Maurae,
Maura Pudicitiae
In the first case we have to think of two sisters called Maura, and Maurae may
be either genitive after collactea or (less likely) dative after dicat; in the second
case the collactea may or may not be identical with Tullia. The order 308, 307 is
altogether more clear-cut, but it is surprising that Maura only gets an adjective on
her second and not on her first mention. I suspect that 307, which is not firmly
established in the mss., is spurious; it is not required by the plurals in 309 sqq. (see
below), but an interpolator might have thought something required.
MAURA The name of a notorious fellatrix at 10.2234; cf. Kajanto 206. She is
passing through the Vicus Longus, where the shrine of Pudicitia Plebeia was (Livy
10.23; he says that the cult was obsolete in his day, whence VETEREM). Some
sources allege that Pudicitia Patricia had a shrine in the Forum Boarium, but they
have wrongly identified what was in fact a statue of Fortuna; see Latte 239, Wissowa 237 and 333, PlatnerAshby Pudicitia, RE Pudicitia.
COLLACTEA (now on Ann. Epigr. 1946 no. 142) , .
She shared the same nurse as a child, but Friedlaender is hardly right in supposing
that Maura is envisaged as a slave child later emancipated who became the confidante of a lady of rank |[298] named Tullia. The wording of the line suggests that
the two are of the same standing.
309 PONUNT Women in general, the coniuges of tu (anybody; on 2.61) 31213;
they are returning from one of the wild parties just mentioned (NOCTIBUS 302,
309). Even if 307 is genuine, Maura and Tullia are not meant; so W. Stegemann
De Iuvenalis Dispositione (1913) 52. Juvenal has in mind women of some status, as
their use of LECTICAE shows (cf. 3501, SG 1.2489 = 1.293).
MICTURIUNT i.e. mingunt (on 16.43); this shows their contempt (cf. on 1.131;

258A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Hor. Serm. 1.8.38, Suet. Nero 59, Aristoph. Frogs 366, Chrysippus ap. Plut. De Stoic.
Repugn. 22.1045a).
310 SIPHONIBUS urina diu retenta ac deinde longo tractu proiecta Ruperti.
Eur. Cycl. 438, sometimes quoted in illustration, is both obscure and corrupt.
311 IN VICES Cf. 7.240.
EQUITANT Metaphors from horse-riding are often applied to sexual activity;
Thes. equus 738.10 and e.g. Mart. 7.57.2, Machon 362 Gow, Asclepiades AP 5.203 =
GowPage HE 832, Henderson 165.
LUNA TESTE 8.149.
31213 LUCE REVERSA On your way at dawn (5.22) to the salutatio of your
influential (on 1.33) friends.
314 NOTA SECRETA A paradox.
BONAE DEAE would be better printed with capitals, cf. 2.867. Saufeia (320)
is again described at 9.117 as drunkenly officiating at these ceremonies. Drunkenness in womens festivals is a common topic of scandal since Aristophanes,
e.g. in the of Antiphanes (see on 2.86).
is the advice of Phintys (cf. on 21) ap. Stob. Ecl. 4.23 (74).61
(4.593.6 Hense), because they bring . But Plutarchs
view of this occasion is milder; Caes. 9.8 (cf. 10.2) ! Cf. also the romanticised
luditis Prop. 4.9.33. For the festival in general see T. P. Wiseman (on 2.86) 130.
TIBIA Plut. l.c.; cf. psaltria 337 and on 2.90. Cf. Apul. Met. 8.27 incitante tibiae
cantu lymphaticum tripudium and on 322; anon. AP 11.339
/ , ; Sittl 243.
31516 CORNU Of the tibia (on 2.90); vino attoniti (i.e. in ecstasy) Livy
39.15.9 of the Bacchanalia.
CRINEMQUE ULULANTQUE Lucan 1.566 crinemque rotantes ulularunt (the devotees of Bellona); rotare comas is fanaticum (cf. Juv. 4.123) Quintil.
11.3.71, crines rotare of the Galli Stat. Th. 10.173, of the priests of the Dea Syria Apul.
Met. 8.27. |[299]
PRIAPI MAENADES non Bacchi. The secreta Bonae Deae resembled Orphic
rites (Plut. Caes. 9).
SALTANTE Of palpitating excitement; similarly (LSJ II).
320 LENONUM ANCILLAS They would be professional dancers; music and
prostitution go together, 3.65.
POSITA i.e. proposita in medio; Hom. Il. 23.653, 740. 3203 are
like a male athletic contest; cf. the contest in Alciphron 4.14.
321 PENDENTIS COXAE Cf. lumbos 314 and Arnob. in next note.
322 FLUCTUM CRISANTIS Priapea 19.4 Telethusa crisabit tibi fluctuante
lumbo; Apul. Met. 2.25 lumbis sensim vibrantibus decenter undabat; Arnob. 2.42
coxendicibus sublevatis lumborum crispitudine fluctuare. Cf. on 326.
MEDULLINAE An aristocratic lady, like Saufeia; this is a cognomen of the Furii.

SATIRE SIX259

323 DOMINAS Medullina and Saufeia, contrasted with the lenonum ancillae,
who stand no chance. Cf. Laus Pisonis 12 animum natalibus aequat.
325 AD VERUM ad veritatem Cic. De Nat. Deor. 1.61.
FRIGIDUS AEVO Cf. 10.217; the opposite of calidus iuventa, cf. 369, 11.6. Sen.
Dial. 4.19.4 shows how the notion of hot youth and cold old age, natural in itself
(cf. Aristotle Rhet. 2.13.1389b31; Verg. Georg. 3.97 frigidus in venerem senior), fits
in with the medical theory which based itself on the mixture (, temperamentum) of the four Empedoclean elements in the body. Cf. Celsus 2.1.5, Eyben
Latomus 31, 1972, 67981 and 686.
326 For Priam and Nestor (10.245 and 258) coupled as types of old age see
Friedlaender on Mart. 2.64.3 and Otto under their names; Priam in contexts like
this Mart. 6.71.3, 11.60.3, Nestor Ovid Am. 3.7.41. A fine mock-epic line; the resounding Laomedontiades, which the sordid context highlights, is from Verg.
Aen. 8.158, Nestoris hirnea is a travesty of such epic phrases as (cf.
on 4.81 and 107), with hirnea (a nomen indecorum Celsus 7.18.3) placed to form an
anti-climax. With HIRNEA cf. ramex 10.205; Lucil. 3312 senex ramice magno
(330 from the same book is crisabit ut si frumentum clunibus vannat, cf. Juv. 322);
old men are Lucillius AP 11.132.6, the scrotum being enlarged as the result
of a rupture.
327 MORAE IMPATIENS Cf. 238; for the rare iambic elision cf. 5.173.
FEMINA SIMPLEX An ironical transformation of what would normally be a
good quality (Stat. Silv. 2.7.85, 5.1.65).
328 ANTRO grotto (so in the romanticised Prop. 4.9.33), such as might be
used in the ceremonies of Priapus (316) or Bacchus (Boyanc Atti Pontif. Accad.
33, 19601, 107). Naturally few details |[300] are known of the celebration of the
rites of the Bona Dea, but Plut. Quaest. Rom. 20 speaks of a , Caes. 9.4 of
, Sen. Ep. 97.2 a consaeptum; cf. Latte 229 n. 3.
329 sqq. Paratactic and hypotactic conditions alternate; DORMITAT (for the
reading see BICS 14, 1967, 46) without si, SI 331, ABSTULERIS without si (cf. 3.78),
SI 332. One might punctuate adulter? (cf. 3.100, 8.25, 13.227), but this is unnecessary; KS 2.164, HS 657. The clauses are linked with each other to form a climax
or gradatio.
IAM FAS EST A paradox; the presence of men at the ceremonies of the Bona
Dea was anything but fas, cf. 2.87 sqq. Ovid AA 3.638 indicates that the temple
of the Bona Dea could be used for assignations, but he is perhaps thinking of
Clodius.
ADMITTE Not only to admit to the ceremony, but also a term of stock-breeding (Thes. 751.60); cf. Sen. NQ 1.16.5 (Hostius Quadra) spectabat admissos sibi
pariter in omnia viros.
ILLA Cf. on 10.179; CUCULLO for concealment (118, 8.145).
IUVENEM It is not apparent who this is; the son (on 14.23) of the adulterer?

260A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Juvenal does not seem to have formed a clear picture of what is supposed to be
happening here.
NIHIL EST 3.112; SERVIS cf. Aristoph. Thesm. 4912.
AQUARIUS Water-carriers acquired a bad reputation because in fetching water for the ablutions of prostitutes (cf. Ovid Am. 3.7.84) they could readily be used
as touts and pimps. Cf. Festus 22 aquarii sunt impudicarum mulierum sordidi asseclae; iis enim tamquam amorum internuntiis solebant uti mulieres; CGL 2.28.5
bacario ; RE 2.31213, Rosenbaum 3478.
CONDUCTUS Cf. Carcopino 47, Edict. Diocl. 7.31 (his daily wage).
MORA NULLA PER 12.11 with quin.
ASELLO Cf. [Lucian] 51 = Apul. Met. 10.1922, Pliny NH 8.155 (Semiramis), J.G. Griffiths edition of Apul. Met. 11 p. 25 fin. and 351. Cf. on 9.92.
337 MAURI ATQUE INDI East and West; Verg. Aen. 6.794 Garamantas et
Indos.
QUAE PSALTRIA (= tibicina 2.90; cf. 314) i.e. Clodius dressed as a musician in
his attempt to seduce Caesars wife.
338 A place where Latins lack of an article causes ambiguity. Does Juvenal
mean two Anticatones or the two Anticatones? In the former case he means
that Clodius penis was twice as big as Caesars work (on which see TeuffelKroll 1
p. 444, RE Iulius 264, SchanzHosius 1 pp. 3346; the fragments in Klotzs edition
of Caesar 3 p. 185). In the latter he is referring to the fact that the work filled two
volumina, and means that the penis was longer than |[301] these placed end to end;
this would postulate an unusual method of expression (as if duodecim Aeneides
could mean the twelve books of the Aeneid), which however seems to be used by
Suet. Iul. 56.5 Anticatones totidem (i.e. duo libri), though this has been emended
to Anticatonis (so e.g. A. Klotz Caesarstudien (1910) 158), and Prisc. GLK 2.227.2
Caesar in Anticatone priore (cf. also Gellius 17.13.34 Cato in tertia (secunda) Origine, and Abel Mus. Helv. 18, 1961, 230 compares Artes = the three books of the Ars
Amatoria). In either case we have to remember the shape of the ancient papyrus
roll. The resounding quinquesyllable at the end of 338 contrasts comically with the
diminutive testiculi and the monosyllabic ending of 339.
33941 All male creatures are excluded, Plut. Quaest. Rom. 20; even pictures of
male animals are covered, Sen. Ep. 97.2.
INTULERT Juvenals only metrical lengthening.
342 It hardly shows sensible historical perspective to suppose that Caesars
times were more pious than Juvenals own.
ET Cf. on 1.87.
CONTEMPTOR is often combined with deorum etc.; Thes. s.v. 657.46.
3434 Vessels used in cult always retained archaic earthenware form (cf. Athen.
6.274b, Dion. Hal. AR 2.23), cf. RE immolatio 1124, Marquardt 393 and 653. NUMA
is the founder of Roman religion 8.156; vasa Numae Pers. 2.59, Cic. Parad. 11, cf.

SATIRE SIX261

Pease on De Nat. Deor. 3.43. For the SIMPUVIUM cf. RE s.v., R. von Schaewen
Rm. Opfergerte (1940) 35, Hilgers 56 and 279, Latte 384 and pl. 30; for the CATI
NUM, which is of earthenware (fictile Apul. Apol. 18) and hence black (cf. nigra
patella Mart. 5.78.7, n. lagona 7.53.6) cf. 11.108, RE s.v.; for the PATELLA used for
making libations (the diminutive, though admittedly it is common, indicating its
lack of pretensions) Marquardt 318 and 651, RSV 3.167 n. 1, Hilgers 239, Nuber
Bericht der Rm.-Germ. Kommission 96, 1972 (publ. 1973) 96, von Schaewen l.c. 24.
VATICANO For the potteries of the Vatican producing cheap ware cf. Elter
Rh. Mus. 46, 1891, 124; Mart. 1.18.2, 12.48.14 are jokes at the bad wine of the Vatican, not at its pottery.
345 CLAUDIUS This is the only form with respectable ms. authority here
(BICS 14, 1967, 50 n. 12) and should be retained; cf. the variant at Cic. Ad Att.
14.13a.2 (his son), where see Shackleton Bailey. In the oau alternation the former
usually indicates a vulgar pronunciation; this is not historically true among the
Claudii (cf. Mnzer 2734, though his declaration that the sisters of Clodius were
invariably called Clodia is incorrect, since Cic. Ad Fam. 5.2.6 writing to the husband of one of them formally refers to Claudia; Brch Glotta |[302] 26, 1938, 150),
but Juvenal may have supposed that it was and used the more aristocratic-looking
form to sharpen the ironical contrast between his birth and his behaviour, a point
not present when he employs Clodius at 2.27. We have to understand a Clodius
(cf. on 14.41). Sen. Ep. 97.10 arguing against idealisation of the past remarks omne
tempus Clodios feret.
QUAS NON ARAS Cf. 9.24.
3468 These lines largely coincide with O 304. When the first 29 lines of the
O-fragment had been accidentally lost, the remaining five were reduced to this
form to give them some sense, a verb audio being supplied and the now unintelligible hac mercede being eliminated, and were transferred to a place where they
were not so obviously unsuitable. They are however still unsuitable between 345
and 349. They disrupt the connection between nunc 345 and iamque 349, and, as
shown in the introduction, are alien in matter. Since 286 Juvenal has no longer
been describing the miseries brought by marriage to husbands, but analysing the
causes of the degeneracy of Roman women since the old days; he finds the reason
to be luxus in various aspects, the aspect discussed in this paragraph being drunkenness. The topic of marriage is no longer relevant (the incidental reference to the
husband in 31213 does not invalidate this statement). Now in the context 3468
would have to be understood of a husband barring in his wife to prevent her from
participating in the rites of the Bona Dea, and a wife bribing her guards with her
favours to let her out so that she can participate. This is odd enough in itself, but
in addition such a marital interlude has no business to be here at all. The subject is
the depravity of Roman women, not the adultery of Roman wives. Finally the first
person audio lacks motivation in this context.

262A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

34951 (in which the mentions of humble and aristocratic women are arranged
in chiastic order) resume the ideas of 3203. SUMMIS MINIMISQUE Cf. 1.14,
11.36.
SILICEM silice sternere is to pave generally, with no specific sense attached
to the noun; cf. 3.272, Blake 3940, Jordan 1.1.4 (hence silicarius paver Blmner2
3.8; there was a procurator ad silices, CIL 6.1598). But here ATRUM (cf. Pliny NH
36.168 nigri silices optimi) shows that Juvenal was thinking of the basalt which
paved many of the streets of Rome; and in fact the word usually seems to apply to
volcanic stones (cf. Lucr. 6.683).
CONTERIT cf. Prop. 2.23.15.
CERVICE See on 9.143; LONGORUM tall 10.223 (cf. Cic. De Inv. 1.35), cf.
fortes 9.142; SYRORUM as litter-bearers Mart. 9.2.11 and 22.9 (RE lectica 1097.6).
|[303]
352 OGULNIA The gens of this name was evidently long extinct (Mnzer 85
n. 1; CIL 6.12564 is undated), so Juvenal has not a real contemporary in mind.
Women want to make a fine appearance at the games (11.202, Ovid AA 1.99 veniunt spectentur ut ipsae; SG 1.2456 = 1.289); her hiring of her trappings is ambitiosa paupertas 3.182. Plaut. Pseud. 1184 mentions a chlamys conducta, but I do not
know anything more about this feature of Roman life.
COMITES AMICAS Some of those hired would escort her as clients (on
1.46), others ride with her as friends; cf. on 7.141.
SELLAM A sedan-chair, see Blmner1 445, Marquardt 399; on hiring one RE
lectica 1093. She could sit in it in the circus if she wished (9.143; cf. Calp. Sic. Buc.
7.27).
CERVICAL , perhaps a cushion or padded back in the sella, cf.
1.159; but it is not clear that those at Petron. 32.1 are in the sedan-chair, and here it
more probably means a cushion on which she could sit in the stone seat, cf. 3.154
pulvino, Ovid AA 1.160, Dio Cass. 59.7.8, SG 2.36 = 2.44.
NUTRICEM The presence of this old family servant implies a respectable old
family; nutrices remained part of the household even when their charges grew
up. Cf. RE Ammen and nutrix 1497, RAC Amme 381, J. Vogt Ancient Slavery and
the Ideal of Man (1975) 105, S. Treggiari PBSR 43, 1975, 68 n. 108 and Amer. Journ.
Anc. Hist. 1, 1976, 88, Blmner1 308, M. Maxey Occupations of the Lower Classes in
Roman Society (1938) 54, Bmer 962 = 4.106.
ET See on 9.74.
FLAVAM PUELLAM i.e. one who functions as a German (13.164) slave. Cf.
Theophr. Char. 22.10 ()
;
Blmner1 285.
355 ARGENTI Silver plate; on 1.76.
356 LEVIBUS beardless (3.111) i.e. young; hardly smooth with oil, as used by

SATIRE SIX263

athletes. For such gifts cf. Mart. 4.28.

NOVISSIMA down to the last cf. 11.42.
357 RES ANGUSTA DOMI Cf. 3.165, 12.10.
3589 SE METITUR MODUM Cf. 11.35, Hor. Epist. 1.7.98.
35960 TAMEN ALIQUANDO go together; they take a long time to do it, yet
eventually they do so. Cf. 640 and on 8.272.
3601 FRIGUSQUE FAMEMQUE An alliterative pair; cf. 14.318 (and 273), Lucil. 599600, Hor. Serm. 1.2.6, Mart. 12.32.7, Thes. fames 232.52 sqq. and 62, Wlfflin 261. -QUE FAMESQUE is a favourite line-ending, cf. 424, 14.273, Christensen
ALL 15, 1908, 197.
FORMICA The ant is a traditional example; Thes. s.v. 1091.81, Hor. Serm. 1.1.32,
Otto s.v., Sauvage Latomus 29, 1970, 293. |[304]
EXPAVERE Gnomic perfect, cf. on 2.83 and 14.174.
3634 A mixed metaphor. RECIDIVUS (cf. H. Nettleship Contributions to Latin Lexicography (1889) 567) suits pullulat better than redivivus
renovated; cf. Serv. Aen. 10.58 recidiva, renascentia. tractus autem sermo est ab
arboribus, quae taleis sectis pullulant, Some folk-tale may lie behind this (SG 4.92
= 4.95; Stith Thompson Motif Index of Folk-Literature 2 (1956) pp. 2334).
ACERVO Cf. Hor. Serm. 1.1.51, Epist. 2.2.190.
365 Words of place and time are often almost interchangeable (e.g. ibi thereupon), and usquam (see the apparatus) in any case frequently approaches unquam closely; but here the contrast with aliquando and tandem (3612) favours
UNQUAM.
Inevitably some mss. simplify to reputat, but cf. on 95 and 464; here the plural
prepares for permittunt O 5. See further on 3.298 and index variation.
GAUDIA Cf. 379.
O 134 This passage and 373ab appear only in O, in which they were discovered by Winstedt CR1 13, 1899, 201; O has evidently introduced the lines through
contamination with some antique ms. standing apart from the main Juvenal tradition (see BICS 14, 1967, 389). In the transmission a format of 29 lines at first
per column, then per page seems to have had a dominant influence (l.c. 39, 478).
While the text was still on rolls a column of 29 lines (O 129) was accidentally
omitted; the remaining five lines (O 304) were reduced to three and transferred
to follow 345 (see on 3468). A marginal note however was made of the fuller form
of the lines, qui (O 32) tacetur (O 33), and this was subsequently incorporated
in the scholia to 348, in which it stands with no introduction or explanation of
any kind.
All this is written on the hypothesis that these lines are genuine, a matter which
has been much debated. I have tried to show (Mnem.4 15, 1962, 262) that they are
genuine and demanded by the context (see introduction). They contain much that
is corrupt (this is natural in view of their transmission) and unexplained, but my

264A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

notes attempt to answer the positive objections which have been raised against
their authenticity, in default of listing the huge bibliography. A possible reminiscence in Tertullian should be noted (see on O 21).
S. Citroni Marchetti in Maia 2930, 19778, 61 shows that the O-fragment was
known to and imitated by the satirist L. Sergardi at the end of the seventeenth
century.
LUDIT 7.239 ne turpia ludant.
2 OBSCENUM. Masculine sc. se; cf. Hor. Epist. 1.18.2 professus amicum and on
2.3; also 6.513 and 2.9 tristibus obscenis. |[305]
The line as presented by O is unmetrical. Housman pointed out that Juvenal
nowhere postpones et to third word in its clause, as his emendation postulates,
but defended the licence by Mart. 9.59.12, the only place in which Martial puts et
third word. However Griffith Hermes 91, 1963, 113 shows that Martial does this as
a traditional feature of elegiac poetry, so the defence fails. Von Winterfelds (Berl.
Phil. Woch. 19, 1899, 794) et tremula promittens, which also occurred to Housman,
is much preferable; the corruption was due to failure to see that ET linked PROFESSUS and PROMITTENS. For OMNIA in such a sexual context cf.
and (Manetho 4.311, 5.283; Flaccus AP 5.5.4 = GowPage GP 3799).
TREMULA DEXTRA Cf. O 24; [Aristotle] in Physiognom. 1, p. 34 Foerster as
a mentions , cf. Sen. Ep. 52.12
manus mota.
3 Every word in the line ends with s; cf. 15.20 and Housman on Manil. 4.780.
Apul. Apol. 75 domus eius tota lenonia, tota familia contaminata.
OMNIS Feminine. Cf. on 2.111.
4 VIOLARE Cf. 15.(9 and) 84.
SACRAE MENSAE Cf. on 2.110; adsistere mensis Val. Fl. 3.159.
5 PERMITTUNT sc. feminae (362; cf. on 365 and O 17). These cinaedi are maintained by women in their homes (to the disgust of their husbands, implies O 14) as
their general factotums to perform such services as are mentioned in 14.30, where
eisdem suggests a permanent post in the household. Cf. Lucian De Merc. Cond. 33
quoted in Mnem. l.c. 263.
FRANGENDA Aristoph. Knights 1289, Mart. 12.74.10, Macedonius AP 11.39 =
GowPage GP 2544; cf. Juv. 5.128.
6 A colocynth is a kind of gourd, a vegetable of the marrow and pumpkin
family. Since the was sometimes inserted into the female genital organs in
gynaecological treatment (cf. Todd CQ1 37, 1943, 108 n. 2; Colin 338 n. 8), Housman here interprets of the mouth of a cunnilingus; cf. the effeminate cunnilingus
for ever hanging round the wife of Candidus, Mart. 12.38. This explanation is not
entirely convincing, but no better has been proposed.
BARBATA CHELIDON is a slang term for the female genitals, and
barbata might then refer to pubic hair; hence Housman explains the phrase as os

SATIRE SIX265

fellatoris, which like the vulva is a receptacle for a penis; this seems far-fetched,
though it gives the desired sense. Chelidon is a name associated with cinaedi, presumably because of their twittering voices ( Lucian l.c.); an attendant
of Cleopatra was so called (Sen. Ep. 87.16, Suidas s.v. 3.118.1634 Adler),
and the cinaedus in Lucian is called Chelidonion. |[306] BARBATA (the gender
of which will then follow the rule for epicenes; HS 7, KH 269) may have either of
two points: (1) it may suggest that some male semen from his partner spills on his
beard (as female secretion 9.4), thus making his mouth and the cups still more
disgusting, (2) but from Lucian, who makes the contrary point that the cinaedus
had removed his beard, it seems more likely that the beard indicates an attempt by
him to disguise his sexual proclivities under a show of manliness; this also seems
to be the point in Lucil. 1058 imberbi androgyni, barbati moechocinaedi and Mart.
7.58.12 iam sex aut septem nupsisti, Galla, cinaedis, / dum coma te nimium pexaque barba iuvat. At Mart. 12.42.1 barbatus Callistratus is the female partner in a
homosexual marriage, and cf. Theopompus fr. 225 (Fr. Gr. Hist. II B p. 583 Jacoby)
. The difficulty however remains of linking all this with fellatio.
7 PURIOR Lucil. 680 impuram domum. It is paradoxical that the despised LANISTA (216, 3.158) should be purus; the word is placed in a comparatio compendiaria for lanistae lares. The religious word LARES house is chosen to suggest the
violation of purity.
8 NUMERO A military term (Lewis and Short I B 3, OLD 9) in place of the
technical fmla.
9 Juvenal must here be saying that even in the gladiatorial school perverts are
separated from normal heterosexuals. The passage of Charisius quoted by Leo
and Clausen is useless since the vital word psyllos is a Renaissance emendation for
the transmitted populus. Vianello and Colin 344 suggested psilus and one might
combine this with euhoplo (cf. Robert p. 229 no. 295); psilus will mean
both light-armed and depilated, i.e. effeminate (a similar amphiboly at Aristoph. Thesm. 232), but with the first sense 1012 become repetitive, and with the
second euhoplo (which perhaps indicates vigorous sexual organs in the obscure
passage Aristoph. Ach. 592; cf. LSJ v) fails to provide a good co-ordinate,
since even a pervert may possess sexual vigour (O 25). Provisionally therefore it
is best to read psellus euphono, with reference to the characteristic speech of
the sexual invert (Plato Gorg. 485c etc.; cf. RAC Effeminatus 636 and on O 6). The
Greek words as usual indicate contempt.
QUID QUOD There are not only moral distinctions but other distinctions of
rank too, as between professional and amateur retiarii; for the association of the
tunic with the latter see on 2.143 and 8.207.
10 EADEM qua ponitur tunica; they are not (Robert p. 147 no.
109).

266A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

11 MUNIMENTA UMERI The shoulder-guard of retiarii (on 8.207). The following corruption has not yet been satisfactorily emended; |[307] in Housmans
conjecture pulsata (he also suggested pertusa) is left hanging weakly. Best so far
is Leos pulsatoremque (cf. Sil. It. 13.376 bellatorem ensem); a pulsator is a type of
gladiator (Colin 372).
12 NUDUS Wearing only the subligaculum; cf. on 4.49.
13 HAS ANIMAS The pselli and the wearers of the turpis tunica. ANIMAS (cf.
531 and 8.254) seems a very dignified word for these despised men, but cf. Tac.
Hist. 4.32 servientium animae, Sil. It. 15.500 venales a. (Thes. s.v. 73.14).
NERVS An iron chain (RE s.v., Allen HSCP 7, 1896, 46 and 623); there was
such a prison with stocks in the gladiatorial school at Pompeii (SG 2.56 = 2.67; A.
MauF. Kelsey Pompeii (1899) 157), cf. Le Blant Rev. Archol.3 13, 1889, 149. This
form of the nominative singular is well attested in Juvenal (Knoche Grundlagen
351).
14 Juvenal resumes 6 after the digression contrasting the house with the gladiatorial school. COMMUNEM CALICEM Cf. 8.177, Lucian Pseudol. 31.
15 For Alban wine cf. 5.33; that of Surrentum is often mentioned and associated
with it.
RECUSET Cf. negabit 14.134.
16 FLAVA See on 120.
SEPULCHRI A common haunt of prostitutes, being generally by the road-side
(on 1.171); cf. Mart. 1.34.8, 3.93.15.
RUINOSI A fortiori a prostitute with a tomb in good order to shelter her would
be even more vehement in rejection.
DEGUSTARE vinum Cato De Agr. 148.
17 NUBUNT i.e. repeatedly; SUBITAEQUE RECEDUNT (discedunt would be
commoner) cf. 224 sqq. After the singular uxor O 14 to match tibi, the subject
returns to feminae (on O 5).
18 This line makes no sense as it stands. With solvunt or relevant there is a
zeugmatic coupling of animum and seria (illustrated by Housman), and his is instrumental ablative (cf. on 1.13). Reserant goes less well with seria.
19 Cf. 11.164; Mart. 5.78.278 (vibrare); Copa 2, Ovid Am. 2.4.30, AA 3.351 (latus); a vivid illustration in Colin fig. A p. 334. The fundamental sense of the word
cinaedus is dancer; RE Kinaidos 459.65 (esp. 460.53), cf. Pap. Tebtun. 208 = Sammelbuch Gr. Urkunden 3.1 (F. Bilabel, 1926) 7182.96. Cf. Lucian l.c. on O 5, Clem.
Alex. Paed. 2.10.113.2
(i.e. pantomimi); Colin 332.
20 QUICQUID summing up with asyndeton; cf. on 8.27.
ILLI qui docet. For another cinaedus who turned out to be an adulterer cf.
Mart. 10.40, and note also Jerome quoted in the introduction.
21 FIDES 2.8; OCULOS FULIGINE PASCIT (i.e. he makes them larger) |[308]

SATIRE SIX267

cf. 2.936 and Lucian l.c., Tertull. quoted on 2.94 (perhaps a reminiscence of here).
22 CROCEIS He wears a crocota (Apul. Met. 8.27) cf. galbina 2.97; yellow is an
effeminate colour, Verg. Aen. 9.614.
RETICULATUS 2.96.
23 SUSPECTUS sc. tanto (eo) magis; cf. KS 2.484.
VOX MOLLIOR Cf. 2.111.
24 LUMBIS Their own; cf. 8.16 tenerum lumbum, duros l. Catull. 16.11.
Anth. Lat. 689b (a poor poem attributed to Cyprian) 12 leniter incedunt mollita
voce loquentes / laxatosque (lass- or laps- codd.) tenent extenso pollice (? podice)
lumbos (of the priests of Cybele).
25 FORTISSIMUS 4.3. This sham weakling is compared to a Triphallus (a name
of Priapus; H. Herter De Priapo (1932) 175) who saltat Thaida, Thais is a character
of comedy (3.93) and we might therefore expect acta rather than SALTATA, which
suggests a comparison rather with pantomime; but pantomime did not deal with
everyday life and comic characters (see on 63, which presents the same accusative
after saltare). Perhaps we should suppose that a Thais performed a dance in some
comedy, but Juvenal must have chosen the word saltare to include an allusion to
the dancing-lessons (19) and effeminate gait (2.17) of the cinaedi. The inconcinnity
is heightened by MIMUM O 27 (q.v.). Housman makes unnecessary difficulties
about the method of expression; the stage-character Thais takes off her mask and
reveals herself as the actor Triphallus.
DOCILI Cf. Mart. Spect. 26.1.
27 sqq. A , like 1723, though here the reader has to see for himself without any Amphion clamat that the husband is speaking (cf. 492 and on
3.186); a modern text should enclose 2734 in inverted commas. In a piece of vivid
dramatic dialogue the husband catches the cinaedus laughing at him, tells him
that he is not taken in by this masquerade, and challenges him to a legal sponsio to
establish his virility. Then he turns to his old friends who happen to be present and
says that he is tired of hearing continually the same crambe repetita of their useless
advice (useless because they have not until now realised that she commits adultery
at home as well as abroad) to lock up his wife. If I put her under surveillance
he says, the guards will need to be guarded, for as matters now stand (NUNC)
she bribes them with this fee. HAC MERCEDE (cf. Lucan 1.38) is said
and has its meaning filled in with a gesture as he points at the disguised adulterer
who has been detected, reasonably assuming that his aim is his wifes favours and
that his friends will realise this; this interpretation seems quite natural in a vivid
dramatic context, characterised as such by the style with its questions, short |[309]
sentences, and excited ellipse (ALIIS HUNC MIMUM sc. serva or the like; cf. e.g.
Pers. 3.40 ad populum phaleras! and 3.19 cui verba?).
Because of the abruptness of the introduction of the husbands words in 27,
Clauss 1517 claims that 2734 are in fact spoken by the poet who for the moment

268A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

is putting himself in the position of a husband; but his parallels fall far short of
this passage (651, where there is no hint at all that the poet is thinking of himself;
166 sqq. malo etc.).
27 MIMUM In the general sense of pretence, cf. 608, 13.110; in the latter passage
there is a link with the literal sense, but no such link can be intended here with
256 because masks were not worn in mimes.
SPONSIO At 11.202 this means bet; here it refers to the procedure (sponsione
provocare) used in civil law to decide ownership. One claimant would ask the
other do you promise (spondesne) to pay me X sesterces if Y belongs to me?; for
CONTENDO cf. Catull. 44.4 The testimony of slaves would ordinarily be taken
under torture (29), cf. Kaser2 282.
29 VOCAT In a deliberative sense; cf. on 4.130.
TORTORIS PERGULA (11.137) Cf. 480 and on 8.175; in the Subura, Mart. 2.17.
30 QUAECUMQUE It has been claimed that the indefinite lacks point and is
inferior to quid 346. It is however a piece of character-drawing; it is spoken by the
worn-out and despairing husband who says that he is well aware of all (quaecumque = omnia quae) the advice given to him, which all consists of variations on the
theme summarised by him as pone seram, cohibe, and is all equally useless.
COHIBE prohibe (sc. moechos) as read by PR in 347 is interpolated because that
passage referred to the introduction (intulerit 340) of an adulterer from outside
the house.
31 SERAM Ovid AA 2.636, Aristoph. Thesm. 414.
312 CUSTODES Cf. 235; Plato Rep. 403e
. PUELLAE See on 2.58.
366 On eunuchs as lovers cf. Mart. 6.2.6 and 6.67 (with the same point as 368,
for which cf. also Theophrastus quoted in the introduction), Lucian Eunuchus 10;
Cyril of Alexandria ap. Suidas s.v. (4.413 Adler) = Sermo contra Eunuchos
(Migne Patr. Gr. 77) 1108c; Basil De Vera Virginitate 61 (Migne 30 col. 796); Hopf
ner1 3946. The eunuch Favorinus was prosecuted for adultery (Philostr. Vit.
Soph. 1.8.489). All eunuchs are necessarily sterile, but not all are impotent; Dalle
33, ERE s.v. Eunuchs The castrate can for some time (at least a year) have sexual
intercourse and emit a semen (probably the secretion of the prostate gland). Later however erections occur much more seldomalmost never after 18 months
from |[310] the operationand there is no sensation of seminal ejaculation. Cf.
Isidore 10.93 and on the semen of eunuchs Hippocrates De Semine 2 (7.472 Littr,
vol. 11 p. 45 Bud ed.) and the spurious insertion in Galen De Usu Partium 14.11
(2.321.22 Helmreich). Castration was repeatedly forbidden; by Domitian (often
mentioned), by Nerva (Dio Cass. 68.2.4; RE castratio 1772), by Hadrian (Ulpian
Dig. 48.8.4.2, cf. Paulus ibid. 48.8.5), but the prohibitions remained ineffective. Cf.
Mommsen2 637, Dalle 84 and 89.
IMBELLES Cf. Mart. 7.58.5, Claudian In Eutr. 1.27181.

SATIRE SIX269

MOLLIA OSCULA Cf. Mart. 11.22.1 of a puer delicatus.

367 DESPERATIO BARBAE Cf. 373.
368 ABORTIVO sc. medicamento cf. 2.32.
369 QUOM This is certainly right, though it gains no support from the scholia
(BICS 14, 1967, 41). Quod is impossible because some eunuchs were castrated at
birth.
CALIDA IUVENTA Cf. on 325, and Plut. De Virtute Morali 11.450f
.
370 PECTINE Pliny NH 29.26; is similarly used (Pfeiffer on Callim. fr.
343).
3712 and 3746 The type of eunuch technically known as or
(), who loses his testicles or has them crushed but retains his penis (Hopf
ner1 386, Dalle 48, Maass Rh. Mus. 74, 1925, 450 sqq.); the procedure is described
by Paulus Aegineta 6.68.
PRIMUM sc. antequam rapiantur.
BILIBRES Cf. crassa 11.157 and Mart. 10.55.2.
TANTUM DAMNO This word-order is preferable because Juvenal always
places tantum beside the word which it modifies.
HELIODORUS A surgeon, RE no. 18, col. 41.
373ab A semi-colon after 373b makes it clear how well these lines fit in. They
contrast the MANGONUM PUERI (Mart. 9.6.4 non puer avari sectus arte man
gonis) and their shame with the A DOMINA FACTUS SPADO and his pride, and
the mention of these persons is elegantly placed to form a chiasmus.
FOLLIS The medical writer Caelius Aurelianus so uses folliculus; CICERIS
likewise (Henderson 119).
RELICTI The scrotum and penis alone remain to them (cf. 16.12), not the testicles.
375 Baths are naturally the place for showing off male physique; 11.156 and on
9.35.
CUSTODEM VITIS ET HORTI Priapus, cf. Herter (on O 245) 207; for the
comparison cf. Mart. 11.72.2 and Claudian In Eutr. 1.256 eunuchorumque manipli,
/ Hellespontiacis legio dignissima signis. |[311]
PROVOCAT 1.24.
3778 Bromius is a puer delicatus who is approaching manhood and is therefore now DURUS (Arnob. 5.25 nondum duri pusionis; Plut. Ages. 13 a boy grown
), and whose hair must now be cut. The name (on inscriptions
Thes. s.v. 2204.32) alludes to the Bacchus-like long hair and feminine appearance
of such boys; cf. 8.128.
COMMITTERE The eunuch, says Juvenal ironically, is welcome to sleep with
his mistress, who is capable of accommodating his Priapean member; but, Postumus, do not trust your pusio (35) to him, for even though he is nearly grown up he

270A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

will be torn and injured. This explanation, due to Lubinus, is the only one which
gives proper value both to the antithesis (SED) between the domina and Bromius
and to the adjectives attached to the latter.
379 GAUDET As in 611, no explicit mention is made of the subject; here Juvenal may still have had domina in mind.
CANTU includes playing as well as singing; cf. 10.210. It does not of course
mean that she likes to sing herself.
FIBULA Cf. 73 and Priapea 77.1417.
380 VOCEM VENDENTIS Cf. 8.185 and 192, Mart. 7.64.9.
PRAETORIBUS They were in charge of paying the performers (see on 8.194).
ORGANA Isidore 3.21.2 organum vocabulum est generale vasorum omnium
musicorum; cf. LSJ I 3, Lschhorn Mus. Helv. 28, 1971, 200.
381 Her rings glitter thick all over the sounding-board; she wears several rings
on each hand (cf. Mart. 5.61.5, Lucian Nigrin. 13, RE Ringe 826, Blmner1 260, G.
M. A. Richter Engraved Gems of the Romans (1971) 3), as was traditional for musicians (Pliny NH 37.67). The sardonyx (masculine here and always in Martial,
feminine 7.144, Pers. 1.16, Pliny NH 37.85 sqq.; NeueWagener 1.937) was the usual
stone for a ring (cf. ll.cc. and 13.139). understands of gems on the instrument, but
this has no relevance in the context.
TESTUDINE According to legend Hermes used a tortoise-shell as a frame
when he invented the lyre; even in Roman times this material was sometimes employed (Paus. 8.54.7, Aelian NA 14.17). Chelys is similarly used. Cf. Keller 2.2489;
RE Schildkrte 430, Lyra 2479, Saiteninstrumente 1761.
382 The strings are struck in succession (or rhythmically; see below) by the
vibrating quill. PECTINE = plectro 384. CRISPO pulsanti, qui crispet chordas ;
an active sense is implicit, cf. 631, 7.206, 13.27 and 229 and on 1.70.
NUMERANTUR This (means) that the strings being numerous, |[312] are
struck ; cf. Mart. 8.28.7 an tua numeravit lana Timavum? was your fleece
washed in Timavus of many mouths?; ibid. 65.9 currus numerant elephanta frequentem the chariot is drawn by a number of elephants: in each case the idea of
number belongs not to the verb but to the object Duff. The word has also been
interpreted numerose feriuntur, but parallels are lacking.
383 HEDYMELES if a real person had derived his name from his art; but it may
be merely a name invented by Juvenal to fit a virtuoso musician.
OPERAS DEDIT has been kind enough to oblige; cf. operas edere and Thes.
5.1.1681.76.
HUNC pectinem; TENET cf. 70; SOLATUR in default of Hedymeles himself;
for BASIA cf. on 4.118.
385 Presumably she was descended from the Claudii on one side and the Aelii
Lamiae on the other; the latter now represent the highest nobility (on 4.154). The
praenomen Appius (often taken by Claudii who did not belong to the now extinct

SATIRE SIX271

patrician family; Groag PIR2 C 762) is often used as if it were a gentile name (Thes.
s.v. 289.64; cf. via Appia, aqua Appia, Appietas aut Lentulitas Cic. Ad Fam. 3.7.5),
cf. Cossus 8.21, Mamercus 8.192. Here it is adjectivally applied, cf. Tac. Ann. 1.8.1
Livia in familiam Iuliam nomenque Augustum adsumebatur, with other parallels
in Koestermanns note (KS 1.209). Heinsius conjecture (on Ovid Fasti 4.305) may
be supported by 5.38, where V reads Appiadum.
386 IANUM VESTAMQUE according to many ancient sources were regularly
named first and last in prayers, though the facts of cult do not entirely bear out
these statements: Bmer on Ovid Fasti 1.89 and 6.304, Pease on Cic. De Nat. Deor.
2.67, Latte 134 and 207, B. R. Burchett Janus (1918) 22, RE Vesta 17712 and suppl.
3.1176, Gianelli Riv. Fil.2 2, 1924, 219 and 224, L. A. Holland Janus and the Bridge
(1961) 283. In consulting them she offers a lamb (392), which would have mola
salsa (far combined with salt) and wine scattered over it (Wissowa 417, Latte 387,
RE immolatio 11278, RSV 3.180, Eitrem 316 sqq., cf. 12.8 and 84).
387 The Capitoline contest instituted by Domitian in A.D. 86; Suet. 4, RE Capitolia, SG 2.120 and 352 = 2.150 and 179, 4.264 = 4.276, Balsdon1 326, Carcopino 245,
Wille 353, Beaujeu BICS 22, 1975, 115, Wissowa 465. The prize was of oak-leaves;
SG 3.44 = 2.231.
POLLIO A famous citharode (RE no. 5); 7.176, Mart. 4.61.9.
388 FIDIBUS PROMITTERE He talks affectionately to his lyre as if it were
animate and he were only trying to win the victory for its sake; cf. on 391. |[313]
FACERET See on 4.85.
389 ERGA Cf. Tac. Ann. 4.74.3 anxii erga Seianum; the word appears nowhere
else in poetry.
TRISTIBUS i.e. nil promittentibus (16.12).
FILIOLUM An affectionate diminutive (cf. on 10.310).
391 CITHARA The same point as 388, with the further contemptuous implication that her prayers are not even pro citharoedo.
VELARE CAPUT As usual in praying and sacrificing; Latte 383, Bmer on
Ovid Fasti 3.363, H. Freier Caput Velare (1964) 102 sqq.
DICTATA VERBA The formula would be rehearsed by the priest (carmen
praeire or praefari) and then repeated by the celebrant to avoid any invalidating
mistake in the wording; RSV 3.177, Latte 198, Wissowa 394, Appel 207; Val. Fl.
1.685 miseris dictat pia vota sacerdos.
392 PERTULIT Cf. 7.153 and on 6.261.
APERTA Cut open by the haruspex (397); for private consultations of haruspices cf. 550, Pease on Cic. De Div. 1.132 vicani haruspices, Latte 158 n. 3, Wissowa
547, SG 3.126 = 3.161, Thulin 3.13640.
393 DIC, DIC Cf. 280.
ANTIQUISSIME DIVOM So Janus is called by Herodian 1.16.1 and (with some
confusion) Procopius 5.25; this however has no roots in Roman cult or theology,

272A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

and is simply an extension of his association with all beginnings, applied here to
heighten the contrast between the majesty of the god and the triviality of the prayer.
394 PATER A term of respect for his venerable age; for its application to Janus
cf. RE suppl. 3.1176, Wissowa 109, Appel 103.
HIS sc. verbis (391).
3945 The Epicureans are right after all! Or rather the situation is still worse;
the gods do not just lack concern for human affairs, but neglect the important
ones and attend to the trivial (Ruperti).
395 QUOD VIDEO ut video 13.118 in a similar context. Perhaps we should read
this here also with ; the repeated est would make the corruption easy, and with
quod one looks for videam.
VOS te, Iane, ceterosque deos; see index pronouns.
397 CONSULIT With a hostia consultatoria (392); cf. Latte 379, Wissowa 419 n.
1, RE haruspices 2449, Thulin 2.11.
398 VOLET The future seems out of place; solet Scholte p. 65 ( has merely
orat, but one should not rely too much on this).
VARICOSUS From so much standing (cf. Macrob. Sat. 2.3.5).
398 sqq. For similar portraits of gossips, male and female, cf. Mart. 9.35, Semonides 7.12 sqq., Theophr. Char. 8 (), Plaut. Trin. 199 sqq.
399 ET connects the adjectives AUDAX and COETUS MAMILLIS. |[314]
Women are out of place in male gatherings to discuss business; cf. Stat. Th. 9.825
(Diana in battle), 3.571 coetus procerum perferre.
400 The PALUDAMENTUM (RE s.v., Marquardt 567, Mommsen1 1.64 and
431) was a purple cloak worn by a general when he left Rome in possession of the
imperium; cf. an alleged fragment of Sallust quoted by Perotti (Oliver TAPA 78,
1947, 41617). This woman buttonholes him even when he is busy.
401 RECTA FACIE 10.189, Quintil. 9.3.101.
SICCISQUE MAMILLIS Like an unsexed creature, and quite unlike primitive
women (9).
403 The Thracians may be taken to represent the peoples of the extreme North,
as the Chinese those of the extreme East.
SECRETA PUERI Hardly the cruelty suffered by a step-son (on 627), but
his seduction by his step-mother.
QUIS AMET bellus homo est qui scit quam quis amet Mart. 3.63.11; cf. SG
1.223 = 1.261.
DIRIPIATUR Of extreme popularity which causes women to fight over him
(Thes. s.v. 1261.45); cf. rapere Pers. 2.37 and the literal at Aristoph.
Eccl. 1076.
406 VERBIS Cf. 191, 197.
MODIS i.e. figuris, , ; cf. Thes. s.v. 1267.57, Ovid Am. 2.8.28,
Tib. 2.6.52.

SATIRE SIX273

407 Comets, generally a bad omen, are particularly threatening to kings; RE

Kometes 1148, Pease on Cic. De Nat. Deor. 2.14. It is clear that this and the following lines contain a contemporary reference. A conspicuous comet was visible in
Rome in November A.D. 115, and Trajan began his campaign against Parthia in
116; admittedly the Armenian campaign was over in 114, but it is readily comprehensible that Juvenal should have sacrificed strict accuracy for the dramatic effect
of linking the fall of Parthomasiris of Armenia as well as the defeat of Chosroes
of Parthia with the comet. Another comet had appeared in 110, but this does not
come into the question because the troubles with Armenia and Parthia did not
arise until 113, and the earthquake (411) took place in 115; this womans two sensational items of hot news could not be so widely separated in time.
FAMAM EXCIPIT Tac. Hist. 4.12.1.
409 PORTAS sc. Urbis.
QUOSDAM FACIT As the gossip in Theophrastus (on 398) 6 does.
NIPHATES was in reality an Armenian mountain-range from which the Tigris
flows (Strabo 11.12.4.522 and 11.14.8.529); this fact, and perhaps a misunderstanding of Hor. Odes 2.9.20 (where see NisbetHubbard), confused the Silver poets,
who speak of a river Niphates (as well as Juvenal cf. Lucan 3.245, Sil. It. 13.765).
|[315]
411 Referring to the earthquake at Antioch in December 115 (Dio Cass. 68.245;
G. Downey History of Antioch (1961) 213, F. Lepper Trajans Parthian War (1948)
67 sqq.).
412 QUOCUMQUE is an indefinite, CUICUMQUE a relative pronoun.
TRIVIO Cf. 9.112.
413 QUAE Housman prefers quod, seeing 388433 as governed by the notion of
audacia (399), readiness to behave in male fashion in front of her husband (400,
432). He claims that we want to know what is done during the day by the woman
who does not go to the baths until evening; but 413 sqq. deal with the morning,
and he neglects 41518, which make it plain that 419 sqq. are only a specimen of
the womans behaviour, not its predominant feature. See further in the introduction. Quod is an obvious simplification; before QUAE we have to understand eius
(cf. 10.330; KS 2.282, HS 555), for as Friedlaender shows 2.34 is not to be compared.
414 CONCIDERE Cf. 3.300 and on 481.
415 EXORTATA If this is interpreted as exhortata we should have to understand servos (cf. 417), which is barely possible. Exorata would have to mean when
she is appeased; i.e. when she is in a good humour, her neighbours get off with
stripes; for when she is really angry she inflicts the severer punishment with cudgels Duff. But this is very strained, and if nam si is intended to convey this
contrast, the second sentence ought to have a word meaning non exorata, irata
together with something to indicate the cause of her milder assault. Knoches defence of exortata (Gnomon 9, 1933, 249) is also plainly futile; at Apul. De Deo Socr.

274A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

17.158 exortatus is usually and rightly emended to exortus. It must be established

whether nam si fustes is intended to contrast with the preceding lora, as Duff
thought, or not. In the former case we should have to restore something to indicate a lesser annoyance than being awakened in the middle of the night. But, comparing nam si at 3.257, I think that Juvenal just passed from lora to fustes without
intending any contrast by the same kind of inconsequence as that passage shows;
so I prefer here to restore something more neutral like exsecrata (Martyn Hermes
106, 1978, 214).
LATRATIBUS Roman houses were not so burglar-proof as modern; in some
the impluvium provided an entrance for the cat-burglar (though it was sometimes
covered by a metal grid), and walls were often soft (Blmner1 10, Marquardt 617;
hence perfodere parietes Cic. In Vat. 11, Festus 378, Plaut. Pseud. 980, Apul. Apol.
32). Watch-dogs (Blmner1 28, RE Hund 2558; cf. on 14.66 and 9.104) were therefore numerous and vocal (Ovid Trist. 1.3.27 etc.). The humiles vicini are probably
shop-keepers; many aristocratic houses had the front |[316] ground floor let out
in shops (Blmner1 58, RE Rmisches Haus 980) in which the tenants might sleep
(cf. Tac. Hist. 1.86.2, though unfortunately taberna may also mean poor house;
Packer Mem. Amer. Acad. Rome 31, 1971, 69). For rich and poor living cheek by
jowl cf. Carcopino 36.
416 FUSTES on a similar occasion Suet. Cal. 26.4.
417 DOMINUM The dogs owner.
419 BALNEA Presumably, as Friedlaender argues, the private bath in her own
house (7.178).
NOCTE The ordinary hour for the bath (cf. on 11.205) was the 8th or 9th (Marquardt 270, Blmner1 383 and 432); the 10th was late (Mart. 3.36.5, 10.70.13). The
cena (424) would usually begin at the 9th or 10th (Marquardt 298, Blmner1 384,
RE cena 1895). This lady bathes late and takes a long time over it (425 tandem), so
that it is bedtime (somno 424) when they begin the meal. NOCTE however does
not imply more than dusk; so Clement quoted by Marquardt 270 equates
with .
CONCHAS Duff compares 304 and thinks that she uses these vessels instead of
the usual gutus (3.263, 11.158) for oil. But Friedlaender is probably right in thinking of basins or bathtubs; cf. Thes. s.v. 28.61 and CIL 8.8396 conchas de suo posuit,
Sidon. Apoll. Ep. 4.8.45.
CASTRA MOVERI She is the general (IUBET) ordering her large retinue (cf.
7.131) amid much hubbub; cf. Lucian Nigrin. 13.
420 SUDARE In the sudatorium or Turkish bath; Marquardt 280 and 290,
Blmner1 425, RE sudatio (2).
421 Like a man (and Martials Philaenis 7.67) she takes exercise and massage before her bath; cf. on 2.53, Clem. Alex. Paed. 3.5.32 (p. 255 Sthlin)
,

SATIRE SIX275

, Marquardt 282.
GRAVI MASSA The halteres (also used by Philaenis), lumps of stone or
metal used to give impetus when jumping or (as here) swung in the hand like
dumb-bells; Sen. Ep. 15.4 cum aliquo pondere manus motae, 56.1 fortiores manus plumbo graves iactant. See Blmner1 329, Jthner Rm. Mitteil. 43, 1928, 13,
E. N. Gardiner Athletics of the Ancient World (1930) 153, Harris 150 and Greek
Athletes and Athletics (1964) 80, Crowther G & R2 24, 1977, 118.
422 ALIPTES (3.76) The masseur; Martial l.c. uncti verbere vapulat magistri.
He brings his hand down with a smack, Sen. Ep. 56.1. Cf. Blmner1 4334, RE
Aleiptes, J. Jthner Die Athletischen Leibesbungen der Griechen 1 (1965) 188.
CRISTAE The pubic hair; as in 70 Juvenal chooses a sexual innuendo. Cf.
Clement quoted on 421. |[317]
424 SOMNOQUE FAMEQUE Cf. on 360 and on 5.49.
425 RUBICUNDULA rubentem Mart. 5.4.4; a comic diminutive. Diminutive
adjectives are discussed by Petersen CP 11, 1917, 426 (P1) and 12, 1918, 49 (P2). Apart
from the common parvulus, pusillus, vetulus, Graeculus, misellus, quantulus(cumque), Juvenal has candidulus 10.355 (P1 446), improbulus 5.78 (P2 54), lividulus
11.110 (P2 55), pallidulus 10.82 (P1 441, 448), rancidulus 11.135 (P2 55), sordidulus
3.149 (P2 55); for rubicundulus see P2 55, 57.
The bath has made her hot. Such hot baths (420) were taken in order to arouse
thirst: Colum. 1 pr. 16 exusto sudore sitim quaerimus, Sen. Ep. 15.3, 122.6, Plut.
Quaest. Symp. 8.9.734a. Then before the meal huge quantities of wine were swallowed to whet the appetite, and these were then vomited (Pliny NH 14.139 and
29.26, Athen. 15.2.665e, Sen. Dial. 1.3.13 and 12.10.3). So in women Sen. Ep. 95.21
and Martials Philaenis (on 421). Cf. Marquardt 290, Blmner1 435.
426 OENOPHORUM SITIENS Internal accusative. The oenophorus (7.11;
Blmner1 404, Marquardt 650, Hilgers 232, K. D. White Farm Equipment (1975)
174) holds a full urna (12.44), about three gallons. Roman measures of capacity run
thus: 1 quadrantal (RE s.v.) or amphora = 2 urnae = 48 sextarii = 576 cyathi (5.32);
note that this is a duodecimal system (on 1.40). This lady drinks 2 sextarii, about 2
pints; one sextarius would be the usual amount (Blmner1 404 n. 3).
TENDITUR The vessel is stretched by the contents; distenditur would be
more specific.
427 ADMOTUM PEDIBUS Cf. Mart. 7.20.19.
428 DUCITUR is drunk; 12.9.
ANTE CIBUM The aperitif came in in the time of Tiberius, Pliny NH 14.143,
23.41; cf. the passages cited on 425.
RABIDAM rabies edendi Verg. Aen. 9.64.
OREXIM 11.127 (and thence SHA 17.29.9). For appetite Gellius 16.3.2 uses
dpttio, motivated however by the preceding edundi adpetens; the medical
writer Caelius Aurelianus uses both this and dpttus. srtio can approach this

276A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

sense (Mart. 5.78.18), but is basically a painful sensation of hunger. So Latin lacked
a generally current word of this meaning, and of the words which it provided
none would fit Juvenals metre.
A comma after CIBUM rather than after OREXIM would make plain the close
dependence of DUM (in a causal sense; on 176) on FACTURUS.
429 REDIT Cf. Sen. Dial. 9.1.6, Ep. 108.15, Mart. 1.87.4, Plut. Quaest. Symp.
2.1.634e.
430 AURATA PELVIS Cf. 3.277 and Blmner1 1467; she has vomited in this,
but it overflows. |[318]
431 SIC TANQUAM 3.308; LONGUS cf. 5.103. tamquam serpens, quando in
dolium vini ceciderit, bibendo vomit et vomendo denuo bibit . For the fondness
of serpents for wine cf. Aristotle Hist. An. 8.4.594a, Pliny NH 10.198 and 22.106,
Colum. 12.31. Herrmann Latomus 7, 1948, 199 rightly sees here a reference to the
fable known from Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. 4.9.
434 sit non doctissima coniunx Mart. 2.90.9; for such cf. SG 1.251 = 1.296, A. M.
Guillemin Le Public et la Vie Littraire (1937) 867.
DISCUMBERE COEPIT Duff translates has begun her dinner, cf. 448 and
5.12. But discumbere in its literal sense to take up a reclining position is incompatible with a verb of beginning, and the transferred sense postulated by Duff
cannot be clearly established. It is more likely that COEPIT is used in the periphrastic sense which became progressively more common; KS 2.569, HS 319, W.
Kroll Wissenschaftliche Syntax4 (1962) 57; e.g. Petron. 86 sedere coepit.
435 IGNOSCIT Cynthia made similar moral judgments about literature, Prop.
2.1.50; women lay down the law for other women. Cf. Claudian 30 (Laus Serenae).
148 damnas Helenam nec parcis Elissae.
436 COMMITTIT pits the poets against one another like gladiators, cf. 1.163,
Prop. 2.3.21; i.e. lets them fight for primacy, cf. Mart. 4.23.
COMPARAT compares; VATES see on 1.18.
ALIA PARTE Cf. 7.114, contrasted with hinc. The more exact ltr will not fit
the metre, but in any case such inexactitudes are common (on 8.196).
TRUTINA The metaphor of the balance Hor. Epist. 2.1.29; a material one Aristoph. Frogs 1365 sqq. On such comparisons in general cf. Focke Hermes 58, 1923,
339 sqq. and 363 sqq.; between Homer and Vergil 11.180, Quintil. 10.1.86, Macrob.
Sat. 5.2 and even before the publication of the Aeneid Prop. 2.34. They were common in the schools (438; cf. Marrou 255), and doubtless too a topic of conversation
in cultured cenae; cf. the parody quid putas inter Ciceronem et Publilium interesse?
at Petron. 55.
438 GRAMMATICI, RHETORS Teachers of literature and rhetoric (
), cf. 7.150243. CEDUNT Cf. 515.
439 CAUSIDICUS (on 7.106), PRAECO Both voluble and loud-mouthed by
profession.

SATIRE SIX277

440 ALTERA NEC MULIER (a humorous climax) should be followed by a

comma or semi-colon, VIS by a full stop, PULSARI by a comma. Both demonstratives TANTA and TOT are, as often, used in a causal sense, the former explaining
what precedes, like tanta 501, the latter what follows, like tot 502. In the second
case we have paratactically expressed what might be expressed hypotactically
thus, tot |[319] pulsari ut nemini sint tubae fatigandae; cf. HS 529, Housman on
Manil. 4.134 with addenda (add Mart. 1.109.14).
VIS The monosyllabic crash of her verbosity, which is also conveyed by the
alliteration of t and p.
4413 The superstitious thought that the moons eclipses (for LABORANTI
and similar expressions cf. Thes. 7.2.793.16, RE Finsternisse 2332, ML Mondgttin
3165, W. H. Roscher ber Selene und Verwandtes (1895) 89, Richter WS2 11, 1977, 96
sqq. (esp. 103), Allen CQ2 25, 1975, 154) were caused by demons (not by witchcraft;
Hill Rh. Mus. 116, 1974, 2335). Noise, mainly percussion, would, it was thought, be
apotropaic and frighten off the demons (Gow on Theocr. 2.36, J. Quasten Musik
und Gesang (1930) 369). See in general RE and ML l.c., Roscher 87, RE Mageia 375
and Selene 1137, 1140; Gruppe 895900, Hopfner2 48 = 104 207, Bmer and Frazer
on Ovid Fasti 5.441; cf. e.g. Plut. De Facie in Orbe Lunae 29.944b with the note of
Cherniss (p. 208 Loeb ed.).
AERA Magic, like religion in general (on 343), is conservative in its materials;
the arrival of the Iron Age did not expel bronze in such uses (RE Aberglaube 51,
Mageia 327.33; RAC Erz 479, Abt 85, E. E. Burriss Taboo, Magic, Spirits (1931) 114
and CP 24, 1929, 159, RSV 3.236; cf. Isidore 8.11.66, Macrob. Sat. 5.19.9, Varro ap.
Augustine CD 7.24, Pease on Verg. Aen. 4.513, Theocr. 2.36 quoting Apollodorus
fr. 36 Fr. Gr. Hist. II B p. 1074 Jacoby). Of course bronze gives a particularly good
resonant sound which makes it suitable for this purpose; cf. ML l.c. 3166, Rohde
2.77 = 296 and 320, Cook JHS 22, 1902, 14, Hildebrandt Philol. 70, 1911, 67. Cf. Ovid
Met. 4.333 aera auxiliaria (and similarly Stat. Th. 6.686) with SUCCURRERE 443.
PELVES This normally (though not at 431) humble domestic appliance is ironically mentioned.
TINTINNABULA For the use of bells in magic cf. RE s.v. 1408, Delatte Bull.
Acad. Belge 40, 1954, 266, RAC Erz 483; cf. Menander Protector fr. 20 Fr. Hist.
Gr. 4 p. 227 Mller. A talkative woman is compared to the
by Menander fr. 60 (cf. Sandbachs commentary p. 691 and Pfeiffer on Callim. fr.
483); tinnire is applied to female chatter Plaut. Cas. 249, Poen. 33. At Sen. Phaedr.
792 the chorus says that, thinking that witches had dragged down the moon, tinnitus dedimus. Symphos. Aenigm. 80.2 speaks of a bell as linguae crepitantis imago.
TUBAS As at Tac. Ann. 1.28.2.
444 The philosopher lays down the limit (finem ponere cf. 359, 13.241) beyond
which virtues, such as doctrina, turn to vices (cf. Hor. Epist. 1.6.15; );
<and rightly so>, for For the common elliptic use of nam cf. 10.204. |[320]

278A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

445 VIDERI She is more interested in an impressive appearance than in true

learning, cf. Lucian De Merc. Cond. 36.
446 She should wear a tunica instead of a stola.
447 CAEDERE SILVANO PORCUM Silvanus being a farmers god, naturally
only the farmer would sacrifice to him (Cato De Agr. 83); hence arose a taboo
against women (RE Silvanus 120, Latte 83, Wissowa 214, Wagenvoort 169).
QUADRANTE LAVARI This was a mans fee in the baths (Hor. Serm. 1.3.137
quadrante lavatum; cf. on 2.152), a quadrans ( as) being the smallest coin in normal use (RE s.v. 662.48; Crawford JRS 60, 1970, 401); but women were charged
more (double at Vipasca; Carcopino 254), though sometimes bequests gave them
free entry (Meusel 103 n. 1). Cf. Austin on Cic. Pro Cael. 62.
448 NON Cf. 451 and on 3.54. Eur. Hippol. 6401
/ .
RECUMBIT At meals, cf. 434, 9.106.
449 DICENDI GENUS subtile, grande or floridum (medium), the standard division of the rhetoricians (Lausberg pp. 519 sqq.); i.e. she should not have had a
rhetorical training, like Statilia Messalina (on 244).
ENTHYMEMA A type of rhetorical argument based on a syllogism (Quintil. 5.10 and 14 passim; Volkmann 1914, Lausberg pp. 199 and 432). CURVUM
means rounded, complete, applied to the rounding off of the logical proof; in
se revolvitur et undique concludit breviter the inferior scholia, cf. Quintil. 11.3.102
enthymemata sua gestu corrotundant, Pliny Ep. 2.3.3 crebra enthymemata, crebri
syllogismi, circumscripti et effecti.
TORQUEAT ROTATO The metaphor is from the brandishing and throwing of weapons; cf. 7.156 and Sen. Ep. 108.10 sententia velut lacerta excussa retorquetur (excussiore torq. Gertz), Cic. Tusc. 3.63 verba contorquet (see Khners
note; the metaphor is explicit at De Or. 1.242), Pliny Ep. 5.20.4 periodos contorquere, Plato Protag. 342e.
HISTORIAS SCIAT This is the business of the grammaticus, though not all
grammatici concerned themselves with it; cf. 7.230, Quintil. 1.8.181.9.1 (see Colson); the explanation of subject-matter, mythological, historical and geographical
(see Thes. s.v. 2838.57, Marrou 167 and 279 sqq., Blmner1 3267, Marquardt 1078,
Bonner 237).
450 In all other cases in Juvenal where there is a trochaic caesura in the third
foot this is supported by a strong caesura in the second; the long Greek word,
which perhaps is felt to have a quasi-caesura en-thymema, enforces neglect of this.
451 ET As well as the many things which she does understand; cf. Quintil. 1.8.21
mihi inter virtutes grammatici habebitur aliqua nescire. For NON cf. 448 and on
3.54. |[321]
452 The woman who consults and turns over (10.126, 15.30) the text-book of
Palaemon.

SATIRE SIX279

ARTEM , systematic treatise, cf. 7.177; in this case a grammar.

PALAEMON Q. Remmius (RE no. 4) Palaemon, a famous grammaticus; see
SchanzHosius 2.728, A. Mazzarino Grammaticae Romanae Fragmenta 1 (1955)
p. 68, Pennisi Helikon 1, 1961, 496 (but this line should not be connected with 454
to deduce Palaemons taste in authors); see on 7.215. Several forged Artes survive
under his name.
453 The rules and laws of grammar; 7.230 verborum regula, Quintil. 1.8.1,
1.2.14, 8.1.2 ratio loquendi as one of the tasks of a grammaticus.
454 TENET remembers as often.
ANTIQUARIA The word in Tac. Dial. 21, 37 (a certain emendation), 42; Suet.
Aug. 86. The fashion of archaism which prevailed in the next generation was now
gathering strength; Tac. Dial. 23, Mart. (8.69 and) 11.90, Quintil. 8.2.12, 10.1.43, cf.
SG 3.5 = 2.195, G. Williams Change and Decline (1978) 309.
4556 The mss. read: nec curanda viris opicae castigat amicae / verba. This however is confused and unsatisfactory. In the first place there is no reason why men
should concern themselves with the words of the friend; nec curanda viris would
only have a point if the words of the viri themselves were being corrected. Secondly, amicae and marito must be antithetical, and that necessitates the correction to
castiget to correspond to liceat; castigat liceat would only be tolerable if Juvenal
were saying odi hanc quae castigat amicae verba; liceat ei (sc. amicae) sol. facere.
Housman removed the first difficulty by his punctuation, so that nec cur. viris
means and things beneath the attention of men (he compares Ovid Her. 6.93
et quae nescierim melius), but his sympathy for Postgates haec curanda viris? is
fully justified (Ruperti in his first edition quoted this from his Erlangen fragment).
After the corruption to nec the scribes will have connected tenet nec castiget and
assimilated the mood of the second verb.
OPICAE See on 3.207.
SOLOECISMUM A slip in syntax; Ad Herenn. 4.17, Quintil. 1.5.34 sqq., Gellius
5.20 and Hornsby on 1.7.3, Lausberg p. 266.
FECISSE = facere.
457 sqq. Several questions have to be answered here:
(1) The punctuation; do the cum-clauses 4589 go with what precedes (as in
Clausens punctuation) or what follows ( turpe putat nil. cum elenchos, intolerabilius )? The former is certainly right; 457 standing on its own is too sweeping and general to introduce a |[322] new paragraph describing another objectionable feature of women to which it has no particular relevance.
(2) The meaning of INTEREA 461. It would have to imply until she puts on her
jewelry, the last stage in her toilette (the deletion of 460 is intended to facilitate
this; see below), or, as Leo explained, refer to the interval between putting on her
jewelry and removing her cosmetics (467; this hardly seems a likely sequence,
though at [Lucian] 41 rouge is applied after jewelry). However the word is

280A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

interpreted or emended, it is still very difficult to see a train of thought in the passage; there seems to be no relationship between 457, which appears oddly isolated
and undeveloped, and what follows. The most economical solution seems to be
Teuffels (Rh. Mus. 20, 1865, 478 = Studien (1871) 430) hypothesis that something
has been lost before 461 which gave relevance to 457 and a reference to INTEREA;
the missing lines will have dilated on the intolerability of such a woman and her
quarrels with her husband.
(3) Is 460 genuine? Provisionally I see no solid reason to deny it, since its removal gives meaning to INTEREA but leaves 457 even more isolated than before.
The resemblance to 413 speaks more for than against genuineness, and there are
no internal grounds for offence. For MULIER (457) FEMINA (460) cf. on 511;
for NIHIL (460) on 284; and in general cf. Sen. Contr. 1.6.7 impotens malum est
beata uxor.
It should be remarked that Housman takes 460 to be a summing-up in non-figurative language of the thought of 4579, which he takes to mean when she is a
rich woman. But it does not look to me as if 4579 mean just this. It is true that,
as the text stands, DIVES looks unmotivated, though obviously poor women are
not envisaged here; it too probably received elaboration in the missing portion.
TURPE PUTAT NIL Cf. 390.
VIRIDES GEMMAS Emeralds (smaragdi) or jaspers (iaspides). Cf. Naumachius ap. Stob. Flor. 4.23 (74).7 (4.573.12 Hense)
.
EXTENTIS The weight of the jewels stretches the ears, cf. [Sen.] Herc. Oet. 661
and more generally Sen. De Ben. 7.9.4.
COMMISIT has joined.
ELENCHOS Long pear-shaped pearls, Pliny NH 9.113 (two or three in earrings), Paulus Dig. 34.2.32.8. Probus says that they were also called titulati, which
is perhaps corrupt for tituli, since glosses equate titulus and (CGL 7.352b).
Cf. RE Margaritai 1685.
461 sqq. A woman in such a state is naturally repulsive, Ovid RA 3516.
462 PANE See on 472 and 2.107.
PINGUIA POPPAEANA SPIRAT reeks of sticky plasters; a type of |[323] cosmetic invented by Neros wife (see on 469); cf. Cosmiana, Nicerotiana named after
Cosmus and Niceros. There is a gluey alliteration of p.
463 HINC From, by these; when he kisses her.
4646 are a parenthesis, and TANDEM 467 resumes 463.
VENIUNT VULT For the variation of number cf. on 95. For the general
sense cf. Lucil. 5045 cum tecum est, quidvis satis est; visuri alieni / sunt homines,
spiram pallas redimicula promit; Tib. 1.9.71 non tibi sed iuveni cuidam vult bella
videri.
FOLIATA Mart. 11.28.9, Pliny NH 13.15; a scent of which one of the ingredients

SATIRE SIX281

was nard, though we have to remember the continual confusion in ancient sources of nard and malobathrum ( , cf. RE nardus, Thes. folium 1013.24).
For the import of nard and other aromatics from India cf. RE India 1302, Miller 65
sqq., Warmington 194, Marquardt 7834, Lauffer p. 287 on Edict. Diocl. 36.88, SG
4.574 note on 2.179.33 = 2.324.
PARANTUR i.e. emuntur (on 3.224). MITTITIS export as 5.92, 119 and often;
the apostrophe is purely for metrical convenience.
467 TECTORIA PRIMA the first (cf. INCIPIT) layer of stucco; cf. Petron.
23 inter rugas malarum tantum erat cretae ut putares detectum parietem nimbo
laborare.
4689 Like Poppaea (462), Pliny NH 11.238, 28.183, Dio Cass. 62.28.
EDUCIT I can see no justification for the indicative; read educat.
470 SI etsi would be more specific, cf. (7.194), KS 2.426.
HYPERBOREUM Cf. Otto Nachtrge 86; AXEM cf. 8.116.
471 QUAE The gender is determined by FACIES 473.
MUTATIS seems both pleonastic (with TOT) and pointless. Perhaps we
should read mutata his, cf. Naumachius (on 458) 1213
/ (a lacuna
follows). The metrical form would be rather like 4.61.
MEDICAMINIBUS Cf. Ovids Medicamina Faciei and Thes. s.v. 531.53.
SILIGINIS Cf. 462 and 5.70. Bread-poultices (mentioned by Galen 13.731 K)
were used until quite recently to draw out the infection from sores, because bread
retains heat well.
MADIDAE Suet. Otho 12.1 (cf. on 2.107).
474 Hor. Serm. 2.4.63 est operae pretium pernoscere; Epist. 2.1.229 est operae
pretium cognoscere. These passages motivated the interpolation of . Pretium
curae is a variant at Pliny Ep. 8.6.2.
476 aversi mariti Lucan 5.736; Lucian Dial. Mer. 11.1.
|[324]

PERIIT She cries perii, like comic slaves on the brink of punishment; cf. on
14.269.
LIBRARIA Apparently the lanipendia (so ), who weighs out the pensum to
the female slaves; cf. DE s.v. 956a, Treggiari Amer. Journ. Anc. Hist. 1, 1976, 82.
PONUNT TUNICAS To be beaten; Plaut. Persa 3623, Ovid Am. 1.6.19, Sen.
Dial. 5.12.5 (recepta tunica when a slave is pardoned Petron. 49); cf. on 491.
COSMETAE The word is applied to masseurs and the like by Xen. Cyr. 8.8.20.
Here it probably represents ornatores (so CGL 7.32b; qui ornamentis praesunt ,
though that suggests charge of jewels etc.). Ordinarily women would have their
hair done by ornatrices, but here male hairdressers are used; cf. CGL 2.265.44 ciniflo and Claudian In Eutr. 1.105, where a eunuch so acts.
477 LIBURNUS See on 4.75; ALIENI i.e. mariti.

282A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

479 FRANGIT Cf. 8.247; passively, he has the ferulae broken on him. Cf. Tertull. Apol. 6 flagra rumpentium.
FERULAS FLAGELLO SCUTICA Cf. Blmner1 293, Marquardt 182; all
these are again associated at Hor. Serm. 1.3.119, though the text there is corrupt.
The ferula (1.15) is a cane, the scutica a strap, the flagrum or flagellum a cat-o-nine
tails of knotted cord.
480 The TORTORES (see on 8.175, 14.21 and cf. 13.195, 6.O.29, Mart. 2.17.2 flagella tortorum) were public slaves charged with the punishment of other slaves; cf.
Herodas 5.314, Blmner1 294. This lady calls on them so often that she pays them
a yearly salary (ANNUA sc. salaria; Thes. s.v. 121.38) instead of by the job.
4814 VERBERAT CAEDIT Not personally, cf. 484; so also 414. See on
16.13. The metre slows down from the brisk dactyls of 481 to the spondees of attentive consideration (482) and exhaustion (484).
482 CONSIDERAT Of a connoisseurs inspection, Thes. s.v. 426.73. This is a
vestis auro clavata (auroclava ), cf. Marquardt 548, Blmner1 254 and 2 1.16870.
LATUM Cf. Ovid Met. 6.567, Her. 9.127; PICTAE sc. acu, embroidered.
ET CAEDIT ET CAEDIT This is the figure of epiphora (Lausberg p. 320).
483 This is usually taken to mean the broad-sheet of the long gazette, the acta
diurna (on 2.136). But though this could be referred to simply as diurna, there is
no evidence that the singular could be so used. explains ratiocinium diurnum,
i.e. her account-book, ephemerides, and the word certainly possesses this sense
(Sen. Contr. 10.4.24). Suet. Iul. 56.6 mentions official documents written transversa |[325] charta, and this has now been correctly explained by Turner Papyrologica
Bruxellensia 16, 1978, 31 as referring to a roll not in the format of an ordinary book,
thus:

but like a heralds scroll, thus:

with the roll itself and the lines of writing with respect to the roll both swivelled
through an angle of 90 (the proper meaning of transversus). This is christened the
rotulus format by Turner, who on p. 51 (cf. my note printed at ibid. p. 66) produces
evidence that this format was used for accounts, for which it is obviously suitable.

SATIRE SIX283

LASSIS Cf. 8.137.

485 horrendumque intonet armis Verg. Aen. 12.700.
COGNITIONE As if she were a magistrate; cf. 497 and praefectura 486.
486 SICULA AULA Comparatio compendiaria; in full quam praefectura Si
culae aulae, the court of Phalaris (8.81) and the other Sicilian tyrants who were
proverbial for cruelty (Hor. Epist. 1.2.58, cf. Cic. 2 Verr. 5.145).
487 CONSTITUIT has made an assignment, cf. on 3.12.
488 HORTIS Probably a public park; Cic. Pro Cael. 36 fuisti nonnunquam in
eisdem hortis.
489 ISIACAE LENAE i.e. Isidos lenae; cf. urbs Romana and the like (KS 1.209,
Housman on Manil. 5.567). On her temple and its reputation see 9.22; Isis is the
goddess who brings woman to man (Becker Zeitschr. f. Aegypt. Sprache 96, 1969
70, 823).
490 sqq. For the cruelty of Roman ladies to their maids cf. Mart. 2.66, Ovid
Am. 1.14.16, AA 3.239; Hadrian punished it in one case, Ulpian Dig. 1.6.2.
491 NUDA UMEROS (see the apparatus) There is no grammatical need to alter
umero (cf. 6.122, 10.227 and 309 and Lucan 6.256 nudum pectore Martem), but the
plural goes better in sense with |[326] MAMILLIS. Her lack of clothing is to facilitate punishment (cf. 476). Cf. on 8.4 for the accusative.
PSECAS A Greek girl, so called because she drops () hair-oil on the
hair. From Caelius ap. Cic. Ad Fam. 8.15.2 the name seems to have had a standing
association with ladies maids (RE s.v.; Risch Mus. Helv. 32, 1975, 11012).
492 TAUREA sc. scutica; so Tertull. Ad Martyras 5.1.
FACINUS Mart. l.c. on 490; cf. also on 294.
493 FLEXI sc. altius. Barth proposed fluxi, but this would indicate hair flowing
loose (cf. Tac. Ann. 11.31), not curled up too high.
4945 She takes this out on others, as at 475 sqq.
LAEVUM ORBEM are to be taken together (cf. 606 and see on 11.140 and
Housman on Manil. 1.270). ORBIS is a technical term in this connection; Mart.
l.c., Blmner1 275 n. 2.
497 MATERNA sc. ancilla. She has retired from hairdressing (for ACU cf.
Mart. l.c. and on 2.94) and now busies herself with spinning, a fit occupation for
an old woman (Hor. Odes 3.15.13, Tib. 1.6.77); perhaps she is the lanipendia (on
476).
EST IN CONSILIO carries on the humorous exaggeration of 4856; she sits
as assessor, cf. 3.162, 4.73 and for this fundamental institution of Roman life RE
consilium, Crook1 889, F. Schulz Principles of Roman Law (1936) 168, W. Kunkel
JAC 1112, 19689, 230 = Kl. Schr. 405. Sen. Dial. 10.12.3 uses the same metaphor of
male hairdressing. She is princeps senatus and therefore gives her advice first (for
SENTENTIA and CENSEBUNT cf. 4.130, 136); in the senate, the consilium of the
magistrates with imperium, the order of the speeches was largely fixed by rank and

284A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

seniority. Her hairpin too is pensioned off from active service.

502 TOT ADHUC COMPAGIBUS with so many added erections. For this
hair-style (which was by now going out of fashion; cf. on 4.103) cf. Stat. Silv. 1.2.113
celsae procul aspice frontis honores / suggestumque comae; Blmner1 274, Paoli
11112, Marquardt 603, RE Haartracht 2138 and suppl. 6.90 sqq., Hirst 75 = CW 27,
19334, 205. For the Silver use of ADHUC = cf. on 8.36, and for TOT on 6.440.
503 ANDROMACHEN A woman of heroic stature according to Ovid AA
2.645, 3.777; longa Dares 12. The rhythm seems to mimic size.
504 CEDO SI 13.210 etc. CEDO = tell me, quid censes?; so cedo si comes to
much the same as quid si. The high hair-do is all the more absurd if the woman
is short.
5045 Housman objects to BREVE BREVIOR. The latter is certified by Priapea 46.3, Anth. Lat. 310. For the former Castiglioni (in Vianellos edition) proposed male, comparing Hor. Serm. 1.3.45; see however on 16.910. |[327]
NULLIS ADIUTA COTHURNIS if she is not helped by high boots; socci were
worn by Roman women (RE s.v. 771.38), but not cothurni, which are simply mentioned as the only high-soled boot of the ancient world; cf. Xen. Oec. 10.2.
PYGMAEA Cf. 13.167.
507 Cf. Sen. Ep. 111.3, Quintil. 2.3.8.
508 INTEREA While she is engaged on all these other occupations.
509 DAMNORUM Due to his wifes extravagance; cf. Plaut. Aul. 535, MG 699.
510 AMICOS ODIT 21423; see the introduction. SERVOS cf. 272 and the
hostility of Q. Ciceros wife Pomponia to his slave Statius.
511 RATIONIBUS His finances; here expenditure, at 1.118 income. She spends
on religious quacks (51819, 546, hinted 585), but religion is the dominant topic,
not extravagance. For the appeal of Oriental religions to women cf. Pomeroy (on
595) 217, Graillot 146, ML Isis 492, SG 1.255 = 1.302 and on 9.223. Plut. Coniug.
Praec. 19.140d warns against superstition just after advising a wife to share her
husbands friends and just before advising sharing of property by husband and
wife; cf. Menander fr. 796.
CONIUGIS Juvenal could well have written illius, especially as VIRI (508) as
well as MARITI has preceded; but by putting CONIUGIS he lays greater stress on
her alienation from her husband. Cf. on 45760 and Sil. It. 17.1336 cornipedis
quadrupedem equus.
FURENTIS Transferred epithet.
512 BELLONAE See on 4.123; MATRIS DEUM Cybele (9.23). The two are often
associated in cult (Wissowa 34950, Graillot 99 and 188, Nock 1.38 = JHS 45, 1925,
89), and Bellonas title dea pedisequa (Cumont Comptes Rendus de lAcad. des
Inscr. 1918.319) perhaps means that she is Cybeles attendant.
CHORUS On their hymns see Graillot 254, Latte 259 n. 6, Wissowa 320 n. 7,
Wille 60, Quasten (on 4413) 52, RAC Gallos 1016, SG 2.350 = 2.176; a hymnolo-

SATIRE SIX285

gus Longo Epigraphica 38, 1976, 38. Cf. rauca 515, 2.111, Apul. Met. 8.267 with a
choraula.
INTRAT sc. the womans house.
INGENS SEMIVIR Cf. 2.112 and Pers. 5.185 grandes Galli; pre-pubic castration
makes the eunuchs grow tall. Carcopino Ml. cole Franaise de Rome 40, 1923,
237 sqq. = Aspects Mystiques de la Rome Paienne (1942) 76 sqq. shows that this
man should not be called an archigallus.
OBSCENO A noun, cf. O 1 and on 2.9.
514 TESTA Cf. on 2.116. MOLLIA effeminate, proleptic.
515 TYMPANA 8.176 and often; PLEBEIA those of the ordinary priests; CEDUNT they cannot make such a noise, cf. 438. |[328]
516 TIARA This is a cap with the top bent down so that it projects horizontally forward, a sign of royalty (10.267); but Juvenal fails to distinguish it from the
mitra, a hood with strings (2.84) fastening under the chin, which is what is meant
here (Brandenburg 64, RAC Gallos 1013 and 1021); cf. Prop. 4.7.62, Apul. Met. 8.27,
[Lucian] 37.
517 Autumn being a time notorious for fevers; H. 4.56 (Auster), and for the
threat of fever R. Pettazzoni Confessione dei Peccati 2.3 (1936) 127. The man is a
fraud; it is easy to prophesy what usually happens. For prophecies by devotees of
Bellona cf. 4.124.
GRANDE SONAT Cf. 7.108; conclamat Sen. Dial. 7.26.8.
518 For eggs as purificatory cf. Ovid AA 2.330, Mart. 7.54.7, Lucian Catapl. 7,
Clem. Alex. Strom. 7.4.26.3, Pap. Lond. 121.522 = Pap. Mag. Graec. ed. Preisendanz
2 no. 7, p. 24; in launching a ship Apul. Met. 11.16. Cf. also Pliny NH 10.19, RE
Mageia 364.35.
CENTUM An Ephippus fr. 1 M = fr. 8 K and E.
519 XERAMPELINAS sc. vestes, clothes of the colour of a dead vine-leaf, intermediate between red and purple; the word is elsewhere found only in Lydus
De Mag. 1.17 and Suidas s.v. (p. 406 no. 4377 Adler), both times in
Roman contexts. The priests of Cybele begged their living and were hence called
; this one is content with cast-off clothes, but because of his effeminacy he stipulates female clothes of bright colour; cf. 2.97, RAC Gallos 1021.
Juvenal finds it convenient to differentiate SE (the woman) and IPSI (the
priest), cf. Caes. BG 1.40.4.
5201 The clothes are a kind of piaculum or scape-goat; the idea of transference
is common in religion and magic (RE Aberglaube 35, Cumont1 217 n. 36, Versnel
Mnem.4 29, 1976, 389, Duff on Sen. Dial. 12.18.6). [Addendum, originally on p. 623:
See J. G. Frazer The Golden Bough 6, The Scapegoat (1913) 47.]
EXPIET The subject is presumably the woman; hardly the priest.
TOTUM ANNUM The acts of a whole year; for confession at the beginning
and end of the year cf. Pettazzoni (on 517) 2.2.97 and 229.

286A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

SEMEL Once for all; cf. 5.142 and Housman on Manil. 1.228.
522 sqq. Bathing in flowing water in the morning to wash away the pollutions
of the night (conceived in physical form; see on 2.157) was one of the normal purifications even in Roman ritual before prayer and sacrifice (Pers. 2.15; Wissowa
219, RSV 3.175, Appel 185, Eitrem 801). For a similar bathing in the Tiber cf. Hor.
Serm. 2.3.290. Aelius Aristides 48.18 sqq. mentions bathing in a river in winter as
a cure prescribed in incubation (cf. on 526), cf. A. J. Festugire Personal Religion
among the Greeks (1954) 915. |[329]
The future tenses link 522 sqq. with 527 sqq., and details in 5226 suggest the
cult of Isis; we should therefore connect this passage not with what precedes but
with what follows and punctuate 526 thus:

erepet genibus, si candida iusserit Io;
The cult of Isis stressed cleanliness (see on 533); cf. e.g. Apul. Met. 11.23, Tib. 1.3.25
pure lavari; and of the priests Porph. De Abst. 4.7 (p. 239.19 Nauck).
FRACTA GLACIE Juvenal exaggerates; the Tiber hardly ever froze (Livy 5.13.1,
Zonaras 8.6.16, Augustine CD 3.17).
TER MATUTINO mane bis terque Pers. l.c., ter mane id. 5.188 in a similar
context, mane Hor. l.c.; Juvenal conveys by an adjective what they convey by an
adverb, cf. on 1.27. TER is the ritual number; cf. Borthwick Eranos 64, 1966, 1078
(e.g. Ovid Fasti 4.315).
IPSIS VERTICIBUS Going right out into the river, not just dipping her head
in at the edge.
SUPERBI REGIS AGRUM The Campus Martius, said to have been occupied
by Tarquinius Superbus (PlatnerAshby 92); that is where the Iseum stood (529).
GENIBUS For crawling on the knees as a sign of humility cf. Tib. 1.2.85; Sen.
Dial. 7.26.8 associates it with other aspects of the cult of Isis, and a woman appears
to be doing it in an Isiac fresco from Herculaneum (Tran Tam Tinh Le Culte des
Divinits Orientales Herculanum (1971) pl. 41, Witt pl. 26).
EREPET She will crawl all over it.
TREMIBUNDA She is both timida (524) and cold, because she is wearing only
her underclothes (NUDA, see on 4.49).
IO = Isis, as often (foreshadowed Herod. 2.41); CANDIDA Io having been
turned into a white cow.
IUSSERIT In a dream (5301). Incubation was regularly practiced in the cult
of Isis (Witt 191; Diod. Sic. 1.25), and such dreams would be interpreted by the
Isiaci coniectores of Cic. De Div. 1.132; see RSV 3.99 n. 11, Vidman1 55 and 2 348b
and 354 (), ML Isis 522. Cf. the dreams and visions of Lucius in Apul. Met. 11,
on which see the edition of J. G. Griffiths p. 139 and Festugire (on 522) 164 nn.
423. Dedications are often ex iussu or ex visu (cf. Vidman2 354b and CIL 6.353) or
somnio admonitus (cf. 530); cf. CIL 5.484 = Vidman2 597 Isidi ex monitu eius,
ML Isis 524, RSV 3.100, Nock 1.456 = JHS 45, 1925, 95.

SATIRE SIX287

527 sqq. Lustral water played an important part in the ritual of Isis; RE Isis 2127,
Apul. Met. 11.20 with the notes of J. G. Griffiths pp. 133 and 21415, Bonneau (on
15.122) 280, Malaise1 281, Dlger 5, 1936, 153, Vitruv. 8 pr. 4 cum hydria aqua ad
templum aedemque casta religione refertur (by those who sacerdotia gerunt mori
bus Aegyptiorum; cf. |[330] the note of Callebat). Vidman2 313 is a dedication of a
. This water was by a customary fiction deemed to be Nile-water
(Serv. Aen. 4.512, on Vergils latices simulatos fontis Averni, and 2.116, with the
general remark sciendum in sacris simulata pro veris accipi; see Pease on Verg.
Aen. 4.512, B. Postl Die Bedeutung des Nil in der rm. Lit. (1970) 197); but here auto-suggestion acting on the womans religious fanaticism makes her go not only to
Egypt but to its farthest bounds and beyond. Meroe (13.163; for CALIDA cf. 15.28)
was far south of the limits of the Roman province of Egypt; if Juvenal were not deliberately exaggerating he would have named Syene or Philae (R. Reitzenstein Die
Hellenistische Mysterien-Religionen (1927) 144 n. 1). However CIL 3.83 comes from
just beyond Meroe: bona fortuna. dominae reginae (i.e. Isis; cf. on 530) in multos
annos feliciter. venit e urbe (Rome or Alexandria?) vidi tacitus (or Tacitus?);
for the doubtful reading see Hintze, Kush 12, 1964, 296, and for the cult of Isis at
Meroe Snowden Ant. Class. 25, 1956, 112.
OVILI (PlatnerAshby s.v.; dubious in Ennius ap. Fronto p. 153.19) i.e. Saeptis,
the area with marked-out pens, as if for sheep, in which the centuriae were separated to give their votes. This was in the Campus Martius; so was the Iseum (what
a disgraceful neighbour for the Ovile with its roots in Roman tradition!), since
worship of Isis was forbidden within the pomoerium. Cf. 9.22, Malaise2 187, Nash
1.510 and 2.291, A. Roullet Egyptian Monuments of Ancient Rome (1972) 23, J. G.
Griffiths on Apul. Met. 11.26 p. 327.
530 DOMINAE A cult title of Isis (Vidman2 344a; ML Isis 51.3). Both this and
the equally technical MONERI (on 526) defend the line against deletion (Paldamus Zeitschr. f.d. Altertumswissenschaft 1838.1143).
IPSIUS might suggest that the priest transmitted the message, or that he committed a fraud by impersonating an epiphany of Isis, but probably indicates no
more than the womans awe at being granted a vision of the goddess; cf. Paus.
10.32.13 .
531 EN with accusative in irony, cf. 2.72, 9.50. Markland and Scholte proposed
animum, which goes rather better with mentem; but ANIMAM may convey irony,
cf. on O 13.
532 The dog-headed Anubis is the attendant of Isis and her husband Osiris
(541).
ERGO Because of her devotion to the Egyptian gods and her credulity; PRAECIPUUM SUMMUMQUE in comparison with the priests of other cults, not with
the other priests of Isis. This womans catholicity well illustrates the rise of the
syncretism characteristic of the religion of the late Empire. |[331]

288A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

GREGE GREGE See the parallels in Shackleton Bailey 252.

LINIGERO CALVO Cf. Mart. 12.29.19; turba linigera Ovid Met. 1.747;
Plut. De side et Osir. 3 (with the notes of J. G. Griffiths pp. 26970); Apul. Met. 11.10 linteae vestis capillum derasi (see the commentary of Griffiths pp. 1923); Herod. 2.367; Gnomon of the Idios Logos 716.
These customs are for cleanliness, the vegetable linen being thought purer than
animal wool; cf. Wissowa 356, Vidman1 52, Cumont1 88 and 4 118, T. Wchter Rein
heitsvorschriften im Gr. Kult (1910) 20, Schwarz BICS 20, 1973, 1045, Marquardt
480, Bmer on Ovid Fasti 5.619, Abt 215.
PLANGENTIS Mourning the death of Osiris (Lucan 8.834), cf. on 8.29.
CURRIT In the procession (Apul. Met. 11.11); a priest would wear an Anubis-mask (Vidman1 16, Nilsson 2 pl. 11.1, Witt pl. 46 opposite p. 224; Anth. Lat.
689b.32 cum sistro faciem portare caninam). DERISOR is usually taken to mean
that this priest laughs at the peoples credulity, but there is also the implication of
the rictus of the dog; CURRIT too portrays a dog better than procedit would.
535 ILLE The priest who acts as Anubis.
ABSTINET CONCUBITU For ritual abstinence in the cult of Isis cf. Plut. De
Is. et Os. 2 with Griffiths p. 261; Porph. De Abst. 4.7 (p. 239.18 Nauck) of the priests;
Witt 143; Festugire (on 522 sqq.) 162 n. 32 on Apuleius, Poplawski Eos 29, 1926,
120; it is a in the elegists (E. Fehrle Die Kultische Keuschheit (1910) 1357).
VENIAM Cf. the inscription of a woman whose husband has exercised his
conjugal rights, W. M. Ramsay Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia (18957) 1.150 no.
45 = F. Steinleitner Die Beicht (1913) 47 no. 22, and the confession of the sinner
against Isis at Ovid Ex Ponto 1.1.51, Merkelbach ZPE 11, 1973, 85.
537 POENA For the punishments of Isis cf. 13.92.
CADURCO A mattress (7.221, Sulpicia FPR p. 134 Morel), so called after the
Gallic Cadurci, who like most Gauls (on 9.28) were famed for textiles (Blmner1
243).
538 This sentence has straggled rather towards the end, and is improved by
Reitzensteins suggestion (l.c. on 527 sqq., p. 143) cadurco. ut serpens, illius
MOVISSE The movement of statues, perhaps due to seismic causes, or in some
cases to priestly fraud, is one of the commonest portents; Wlker 19.
SERPENS On the association of Isis with snakes cf. ML 533 and RE 2124 Isis;
Vidman2 356 anguis, Hopfner Fontes (see introduction to Fifteen) 910 serpens,
Griffiths Journ. Egypt. Archaeol. 47, 1961, 114, J. Ferguson Religions of the Roman
Empire (1970) pl. 55; e.g. Apul. |[332] Met. 11.4. Aelian HA 10.31 says that she sent
the asp against .
539 MEDITATA practised, passive though the verb is deponent; cf. KS 1.111
and Juv. 13.210.
MURMURA For such quiet prayers cf. 10.290, Abt 212.
540 UT NON Cf. KS 2.21213. For the goose as a sacrifice to Io-Isis cf. Ovid

SATIRE SIX289

Fasti 1.453 with Bmer and Frazer; ML Isis 492, RE Gans 722, Hopfner (on 538)
812 anser, P. Stengel Opferbruche der Griechen (1910) 227. It was a favourite animal for sacrifice in Egypt generally (Herod. 2.45). As here it is combined with a
(= TENUI) by Philip AP 6.231 = GowPage GP 2775 in an
offering to Isis; a POPANUM (RE s.v. and Kuchen 2094) is a cake or bun often offered in cult (cf. the liba 3.186, 16.39; Goodenough 5.70; to Isis at Heliodorus 7.11.1).
CORRUPTUS bribed, a disrespectful word.
5427 Cf. Lucian Podagra 173 . Procopius also mentions a Jewish soothsayer, De Bellis 5 (B. Goth. 1) 9.3. Interpretation
of dreams has a sizeable part in the Talmud (cf. A. Cohen Everymans Talmud2
(1949) 286), and one of the Rabbis there named, R. Ishmael son of Elisa, was a contemporary of Juvenal (Lewy Rh. Mus. 48, 1893, 398; cf. The Babylonian Talmud,
Berakoth transl. M. Simon (1958) 346); see Hengel 240, SG 3.179 = 3.211, J. Juster
Les Juifs dans lEmpire Romain (1914) 2.209, M. Simon Verus Israel (1964) 295.
DEDIT LOCUM Thes. 5.1.1679.81.
COPHINO FENOQUE See on 3.14.
ARCANAM AUREM Her private ear; cf. Ovid AA 2.596 arcana manu furtive.
TREMENS From age and palsy; 10.198, 16.56.
MENDICAT For Jewish beggars cf. Mart. 12.57.13 and Juster (l.c.) 31920; see
on 3.296.
INTERPRES LEGUM Cf. 4.79, 14.101.
SOLYMARUM The name of the city has been turned directly into an adjective;
cf. on Bebriacus 2.106, though that has an ending resembling a Latin adjectival
suffix.
MAGNA SACERDOS ARBORIS An obscure phrase of which I know the following interpretations. (1) It is to be connected with the trees of the Jewish settlement in the grove of Egeria 3.16; this seems unlikely. (2) Juvenal may have known
synagogues surrounded by trees, cf. Philo Leg. ad Gaium 20.132
; this appears equally implausible. (3) Reitzenstein (on 527 sqq.)
sees here, as in the following summi caeli, an element of syncretism, and thinks
that this Jewess allotted at least part of her devotions to |[333] Attis, who was
changed into a tree (Ovid Met. 10.105, Ibis 5056; H. Hepding Attis (1903) 114) and
one of whose festivals was called arbor intrat and administered by dendrophori
(Hepding 149 sqq., Nilsson 2.6434, Wissowa 3212, M. Vermaseren Cybele and
Attis (1977) 115 and pl. 73); but Juvenal should have made this plainer, though Attis
does appear on a Jewish sarcophagus (F. Cumont Symbolisme Funraire (1942)
491). (4) Others connect with Florus 1.40.30 (Pompeius) vidit illud grande impiae
gentis arcanum, patens sub aurea vite caelum (so the best ms., cf. Joseph. BJ 5.208
10), referring to the design of the Temple in which one gate-way gave an open
view of the sky and another was adorned by this golden vine. Juvenal certainly

290A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

could have distorted the facts to produce a scornful phrase, but he would hardly
have called a vine an arbor. Trees do have symbolic religious value in Judaism,
but nothing in Goodenough 7.87 sqq. seems to help here. The problem remains.
SUMMI CAELI Cf. 14.97. Jehovah is of course a god of Heaven (RE 9.446.27;
it seems unnecessary to me to suppose that Juvenal had in mind the syncretistic
cult of ). Posidonius ap. Strabo 16.2.35 (Fr. Gr. Hist. II A fr.
70 p. 264 Jacoby) after discussing the sky-worship of the Jews mentions incubation by (cf. Norden 276 n. 3), though Jacoby thinks this sentence an
addition by Strabo.
INTERNUNTIA .
IMPLET MANUM Hom. Od. 11.359 .
AERE MINUTO Sen. Dial. 2.12.2.
SOMNIA Interpretations of dreams; QUALIACUMQUE VOLES since fortune-tellers try to please their clients, Apul. Apol. 97.
548 SPONDET Of astrologers Suet. Tib. 14.2, Otho 4.1; cf. promittere Juv. 3.43.
AMATOREM INGENS Lucian Alex. 5
; De Merc. Cond. 27
.
ORBI Cf. 3.129 (q.v. on captatio), Mart. 11.83.1 etc.
549 TESTAMENTUM i.e. legatum.
CALIDAE Still warm; PULMONE cf. Pease on Cic. De Div. 1.85.
COLUMBAE PULLORUM Consultation of exta of birds was unusual at
Rome (though see Cic. De Div. 2.29, Pliny NH 10.49) and is considered characteristic of barbari like these by Iambl. Vit. Pythag. 28.147.
ARMENIUS HARUSPEX For Oriental diviners cf. 585 and G. Blecher De
Extispicio (1905) 71 n. 6; by Armenian Juvenal may well mean Persian (Kroll on
Catull. 90.2). For private consultation of haruspices see on 392. |[334]
551 EXTA Cf. extispicium.
CATELLI This is quite un-Greek (except for Paus. 6.2.2) and un-Roman
(though Pliny NH 18.14 does mention an augurium canarium, cf. Latte 63). Cf.
the frog at 3.445.
552 PUERI Cf. e.g. Lucan 6.710 and the epitaph of a boy killed in sorcery CIL
6.3.19747, with the illustration of the rite in DS Magia p. 1515 fig. 4784; see RSV
3.113 n. 1, RE Mageia 32930, MacMullen1 335, SG 3.3067 = 3.324, ML Inferi 253,
Hopfner2 1 p. 382 635, Dlger 4, 1934, 211, F. Schwenn Die Menschenopfer (1915)
190 sqq. There is perhaps a reference in Pap. Warren 21.32 (Papyrol. Lugd.-Bat. 1
(1941) 52).
FACIET IPSE Sen. Dial. 4.7.3; thinks of Egnatius (on 3.116), but the facts
of that case do not seem to fit.
553 The Chaldaica doctrina (Pease on Cic. De Div. 1.2) was systematised about
280260 B.C. by Beros(s)us, a priest of Babylon who settled on Cos, and the name

SATIRE SIX291

was applied to all astrologers (10.94; RE Chaldaioi 2059). Their calculations (numeri 576) also gave them the name mathematici (562, 14.248; Gellius 1.9.6, DS s.v.)
in Silver Latin.
554 A FONTE HAMMONIS This famous fount ran warm by night and cold by
day (Herod. 4.181 etc.; H. W. Parke The Oracles of Zeus (1967) 199, RE Ammoneion
1858). This feature of the place is singled out to represent the whole location of the
oracle in the Oasis of Siwah, as at Val. Max. 8.15 ext. 3 (where again mss. corrupt to
fronti, because of recollection of Ammons rams head). M. Ninck Die Bedeutung
des Wassers (Philol. suppl. 14.2, 1921) 90 thinks that there is an allusion to mantic
water-drinking, but this is not necessary and is not elsewhere attested of Ammon.
For the idea cf. 8.126 and Tac. Ann. 6.21.3 quae dixerat (Thrasyllus) oracli vice
accipiens.
5556 The oracles had fallen into neglect in Augustan (Strabo 17.1.43.813 says
this even of Ammon, cf. 7.7.9.327; Parke 2312) and Neronian (Lucan 5.111 of Delphi; see F. M. Ahl Lucan (1976) 1224) times. But in Juvenals own day, though
his contemporary the Delphic priest Plutarch wrote his De Defectu Oraculorum
(dramatic date probably A.D. 83), they were beginning to revive, and regained importance under the Antonines. See RSV 3.967, Nilsson 2.467, H. W. ParkeD. E.
W. Wormell The Delphic Oracle (1956) 1.283 sqq., RE Delphoi 2579, Orakel 853 and
861, Beaujeu 184, Flacelire Comptes Rendus de lAcad. des Inscr. 1971, 168. Juvenal
seems to imply that all other oracles are a poor second to Delphi, and their activity
hardly lightens the darkness caused by the silence of the Pythia.
DAMNAT damnare est damno afficere DServ. Aen. 4.699, Nonius 276; |[335]
cf. Plaut. Trin. 829. On the association of this word with darkness (e.g. Ovid Met.
3.335) see E. Lfstedt Vermischte Stud. (1936) 96.
CALIGO (cf. Hor. Odes 3.29.29) takes a genitive as if it were ignoratio.
557 On the frequent banishments of astrologers cf. Balsdon1 186, F. H. Cramer
Astrology in Roman Law and Politics (1954) 2415, 2324, MacMullen1 128 sqq. The
reason was that their prophecies aroused hopes and therefore political plots, as
with Otho (5589).
5589 MAGNUS CIVIS (cf. on 2.105) Galba; according to Tac. Hist. 1.21 Othos
fear of him was only a pretence. The astrologer who urged on Otho to the murder
of Galba is variously called Ptolemaeus and Seleucus (Tac. Hist. 1.22 and 2.78, Plut.
Galba 23.4, Suet. Otho 4 and 6); see Cramer 12935. The text seems to imply that
he had once been intimate with Galba and had transferred his allegiance to Otho
for gain; nothing is known of this from other sources Duff; nor does anyone else
suggest that he was saepius exul.
These two lines should certainly be eliminated from the text. Firstly, on manuscript authority, since, though G adds no weight to P because it is here derived
from the same source (BICS 14, 1967, 45; Griffith2 136), the consensus of F, a ms.

292A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

characterised by the retention of very old readings widely different from the P-tradition (BICS 404), and P carries great weight. Secondly, on grounds of sense.
The lines break the connection between 557 and 5604 and unsuitably limit the
reference to one specific astrologer (this cannot be defended by 5.44). It has also
been objected by Ribbeck 167 and Duff that this astrologer would be dead by now,
but this objection carries no force in view of the way in which Juvenal refers to
figures from the past as if still alive (e.g. 8.39). It may be remarked that qui
cuius (5578) match si si (5612) and qui cui (563). Nevertheless the lines
are certainly an illustrative quotation taken from another source; they are clearly
genuine lines of ancient poetry, but there is no reason to suppose them Juvenals.
CONDUCENDA TABELLA A venal document, containing Othos horoscope; cf. 2.114 and LSJ 4. BT See on 3.174.
560 FIDES ARTIS Tac. Ann. 6.22.3 (also of astrology).
SONUIT FERRO Cf. Tib. 2.6.26, Lucan 8.663; i.e. catenis, cf. RE carcer 1581,
Mommsen2 300.
561 CASTRORUM IN CARCERE Presumably the castra praetoria, the depot
of the cohortes praetoriae and probably also of the cohortes urbanae; imprisonment there is a result of the police duties of these bodies (cf. Joseph. AJ 18.235, O.
Hirschfeld Kl. Schr. 590, Mommsen2 316, RE 22.2414 and carcer 157980, Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 10.57.2). See on 3.314. |[336]
LONGE for a long time cf. 7.41, Stat. Silv. 1.2.276 and the adjective 8.47; l ongum
would be more usual. Longo (see the apparatus) would have to mean distant, but
this is untrue of the castra praetoria, and, unlike 16.25, there would here be no
point in misrepresentation.
562 GENIUM HABEBIT In the eyes of the world; people will think that he
possesses no talent. Genium here hardly differs from ingenium (cf. Stat. Silv.
4.6.19, Mart. 6.61.10, 7.78.4).
MATHEMATICUS See on 553.
563 PERT Cf. on 8.85.
5634 For banishment to the Cyclades (deportatio in insulam) see on 1.73,
10.170; for PARVA Ovid Met. 5.242.
VIX CONTIGIT suggests that he was lucky to escape a capital sentence, TANDEM that he was confined for a term of years in Seriphos Duff.
CARUISSE A perfectly neutral word, used of undesirable things at 10.287 and
357, 14.156 and often; there is no need therefore to see an ironical oxymoron with
Weidner. But the idea of getting off the island spoils the humour, which would be
preserved by iacuisse (Prof. Nisbet) or latuisse (Schrader).
565 sqq. 5658 describe fatalistic astrology, 569 sqq. catarchic astrology. The
one assumed that the constellations prevailing at birth (or at conception) inexorably determined the character and the future destiny of each human being. The
other merely assigned to individual planets, fixed stars, or entire constellations

SATIRE SIX293

a strong but not inescapable power over the course of events. By ascertaining the
preponderant influence for specific days, hours or even minutes catarchic astrologers thus believed themselves able to advise their clients to plan or avoid specific
undertakings at certain times Cramer (on 557) 19.
Though illegal (Cramer 248 sqq.), consultations on the death of relatives were
very common (3.43; cf. 14.248, which illustrates LENTO).
566 DE TE The imaginary husband, cf. 597.
TANAQUIL TUA Cf. tuus Endymion 10.318 and Lausberg p. 301. Tanaquil is
not mentioned for her skill in divination, for then she would not need to consult
anyone else, but as the pattern of a good wife (in this context of course ironically);
cf. Sen. fr. 79 notior est marito suo Tanaquil hanc rara inter feminas virtus altius
saeculorum omnium memoriae infixit, Auson. Parentalia 30.5 (pp. 312 Prete)
virtutibus quas habuit Tanaquil.
567 EFFERAT Cf. 175; an indirect deliberative.
AN whether (as often), not or.
ADULTER A comic climax coming after the family relationships. |[337] Epitaphs show cases in which a surviving spouse claims to have wished for the survival of the other (Lattimore 2034); cf. Theophr. ap. Jerome Adv. Iovin. 1.47.314b
ut sit superstes (uxor) optandum. Juvenal sardonically applies to an adulterous
relationship the attitudes of marriage (cf. 10.241).
SIDUS TRISTE SATURNI LAETA VENUS The character of these planets
is commonplace (RE Planeten 2130; e.g. Lucan 1.65262).
QUO ASTRO In which sign of the Zodiac.
SE PROFERAT Cf. Pliny NH 18.218.
MENSIS Cf. Manil. 3.512.
572 ILLIUS Contrasted with haec 569.
OCCURSUS ETIAM nedum sermonem; occursum eius vitare Tac. Ann. 4.60.
573 SUCINA 9.50. Balls of amber were carried by Roman ladies in their hands
because they gave off an agreeable smell when warm and kept the hands cool
(Ovid Met. 2.365, Prop. 2.24.12, Mart. 3.65.5 sucina trita, Pliny NH 37.3049 etc.);
Paoli 155, Blmner1 262 n. 8, RE Bernstein 303.
PINGUIA Resinous.
574 EPHEMERIDAS Astrological almanacs; Pliny NH 29.9 ad siderum motus
ex ephemeride mathematica cibos dando horasque observando.
575 PATRIAM The district of Italy from which he hails; so often. For QUE cf.
on 10.170.
576 THRASYLLI The astrologer of Tiberius (Cramer (on 557) 92108); for his
astrological writings cf. RE Thrasyllos 5834, W. and H. G. Gundel Astrologumena
(1966) 149, and for NUMERIS on 553.
577 AD PRIMUM LAPIDEM A short journey of one mile; cf. RE suppl. 13.1453
4. For VECTARI cf. on 4.5, and for HORA Pliny quoted on 574; for advice about

294A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

a journey Apul. Met. 2.1213.

579 INSPECTA GENESI Only after consulting her horoscope (cf. 14.248; the
calculation based on the exact hour of birth). The emphasis of the sentence falls
on the participle, cf. 1.99.
COLLYRIA RE 1101; RAC Augensalbe. Cf. E. Svenberg Lunaria et
Zodiologia Latina (1963) p. 34.14 Luna X. m(ari) p(leno). collirium facere ad oculos
bonum est. This belongs to the sphere of (RE s.v., Cramer 188,
Gundel l.c. 16, E. Stemplinger Antike und Moderne Volksmedizin (1925) 103, A. J.
Festugire La Revlation dHerms 1 (1950) 123); a work on this topic circulated
under the names of Nechepso and Petosiris (581). Cf. Manil. 3.13844.
5801 No hour of the day is thought the right hour, except that assigned by
astrology; APTIOR indicates fitter than others cf. Verg. Georg. 1.286 nona fugae
melior. So Housman CR1 17, 1903, 468 = Coll. Papers 616. To say, as others interpret, that no hour of the day is |[338] thought fitter than (nisi) that assigned by
astrology would hardly suggest profound belief in astrology and postulates a use
of nisi which should not be attributed to Juvenal (on Quintil. 4.2.66 see HS 596).
For lucky and unlucky hours cf. Gundel 273 and Pliny quoted on 574.
PETOSIRIS An alleged Egyptian priest regarded as one of the founders of astrology. Books under his name were in circulation and are quoted by Pliny (cf.
Beaujeu on NH 2.88). See Gundel 27 sqq. and 31, Cramer 1718, RE Petosiris and
Nechepso, Nilsson 2.269.
58291 The MEDIOCRES of 582 are identical with the plebeiae of 588; cf. 11.177,
where mediocres are contrasted with the rich and equated with humiles. The literary form of the passage seems inelegant, in that 5857 appears to be contrasted
(with adversative asyndeton) to both 5824 and 58891, whereas it would naturally be contrasted only to one. Transpositions of verses which have been suggested
do not help; it would be better with Weidner to assume a gap in the text before
582. Teuffel saw here a sign of the double recension which he professed to find
in the text of Juvenal (Rh. Mus. 20, 1865, 476 = Studien (1871) 429); and indeed
this passage is the strongest support for this theory, which however is a fantasy.
I have defended the text in Hermathema 118, 1974, 16, where I argued that after a
long discussion of rich superstitious women (up to 581), Juvenal wished to add a
final comment that poor women are no better (cf. 34951). This he did in 5824,
which may be paraphrased a woman of low rank will frequent the fortune-tellers
of the circus. Feeling however that this brief remark carried inadequate weight
to end the paragraph, he added (for whereas) rich women can afford to consult
expensive practitioners, plebeian women will have to find the resolution of their
destinies among the vulgar fortune-tellers of the circus. Thus the four (assuming
a gap after 585) lines 5857 are related to the four lines 58891 by adversative asyndeton (not to 5824), so that 587 should end with a colon. Now 5857 becomes
logically subordinate, only intended to highlight 58891, and no longer represents

SATIRE SIX295

a disorderly repetition of 54852 (rich women and haruspices) and 55381 (their
astrologers). In my article I discussed the type of sentence which at the end recurs
to its beginning.
582 UTRIMQUE with the genitive, like , is a Grecism like those of
which Apuleius is fond (Met. 8.17 undique laterum; altrinsecus aedium 3.17, 5.2).
Cael. Aurel. Acut. 2.37.194 utrimque orarum on both sides is rather different.
METARUM (RE s.v. 1311) In the circus the spina (RE s.v. 1780) ran down the
centre of the course, and on it there were seven dolphins, symbolising speed, supported on columns (590), one of which was |[339] removed as each of the seven
laps of a race was completed. At each end of the spina were three metae, turning
posts. See RE delphines (2), suppl. 7.1631; RSV 3.516, SG 2.37 = 2.45, Balsdon1 253,
Quin-Schofield Latomus 25, 1966, 99 and Balil ibid. 867, Harris fig. 79, G. Lugli
Roma Antica, il Centro Monumentale (1946) p. 604 fig. 183, Vogel Art Bulletin 51,
1969, 155.
The circus (RE s.v. 2576), called fallax by Hor. Serm. 1.6.113, was the haunt of
fortune tellers (Cic. De Div. 1.132 de circo astrologos, Livy 39.16.8 etc.); cf. SG 2.20
= 2.23, RSV 3.102.
SORTES 1.82; a type of divination based on the drawing of lots; cf. Latte 177 and
264, Wissowa 260 and in ERE s.v. Divination 821, RSV 3.94, RE Losung 1451 and
Orakel 854, Kl. Pauly s.v. Losung 739, Pease on Cic. De Div. 1.2. Sortilegi are mentioned with contempt by Cicero De Div. 1.132, who says (ibid. 2.87) that nobody
of consequence now uses the sortes of the Praeneste oracle (see however Peases
note). Here, as at Tib. 1.3.11, the woman draws the lots herself; usually this was
done by a boy.
FRONTEM PRAEBEBIT To the ; MANUM P. to the
or (cf. Pack TAPA 103, 1972, 367). The two are coupled by
Artemidorus 2.69; cf. RE Mantike 1288.
POPPYSMA (from ), a smack of the lips. This is probably not intended
for the fortune-teller to divine from it, but to assist the magic; cf. the
in Pap. Mag. Gr. (on 518) 2.XIII p.89.40, and Pliny NH 28.25 fulgetras poppysmis
adorare (so Aristoph. Wasps 625), on which see RE Aberglaube 42.44 and X. F. M.
G. Wolters Notes on Ancient Folklore (1935) 82.
585 Verg. Georg. 3.491 nec responsa potest consultus reddere vates. As Clausen
prints the text, it means a Phrygian augur, hired direct from Phrygia, i.e. a genuine one, not an impostor. But dabit looks like an interpolation; it is better with
Housman to accept dabunt and postulate a gap after 585, e.g. inde <ubi croci nascuntur> conductus, i.e. a Cilician. For Cilician augurs see Pease on Cic. De Div. 1.2,
for Phrygian id. on 1.92 (add Dio Chrys. 34.5), and cf. ibid. 1.94, 2.80 and on 549
above. On the other side it must be granted that, when Juvenal puts a singular verb
with two subjects in 5867, it is not apparent why he should put a plural in 585.
587 i.e. an haruspex, who would expiate (procurare) the thunderbolt, this being

296A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

a prodigium. According to the place where the lightning struck the earth it would
be either privatim or publice conditum (CIL 9.1047); i.e. everything scorched by
the lightning would be collected and buried. See Latte 81, Wissowa 122 and 546,
RSV 3.262, DE fulmen 3304, RE haruspices 2446, Thulin 1.92 sqq. (ibid. 87 Thulin
notes that Juvenal seems to imply a contrast with iuniores qui privata |[340] fulgura
condunt), Mingazzini in Gli Archeologi Italiani in Onore di A. Maiuri (1965) 317.
PUBLICA Possibly for metrical convenience, to avoid pblc (as in CIL l.c.);
but not necessarily, as there was a category of fulgura publica Sen. NQ 2.48.1 (privata Pliny NH 2.139).
588 AGGERE The wall attributed to Servius Tullius (on 8.43, 16.25), which being a favourite promenade (Hor. Serm. 1.8.15, Quintil. 12.10.74) attracted mountebanks (5.153) and fortunetellers. Juvenal ironically speaks as if destinies were
decided and not merely revealed there.
589 Friedlaender explains that it was the custom (as now in the East) for women of low station, especially copae (cf. 591), to carry their wealth upon them in the
form of gold ornaments Duff (cf. SG 2.183 = 2.328); being a copa the woman might
well be a Syrian (Kleberg 77). It is certainly surprising that gold should be mentioned as a sign of poverty, but cf. Pliny NH 33.152 argentum succedit aliquando et
auro luxu feminarum plebis compedes sibi ex eo facientium, quas induere aureas
mos tritior vetet; ibid. 40, gold on the feet of an intervening equestrian order of
women inter stolam plebemque. Madvig 559 proposed armum, but the notion of
burliness (robustam de plebe mulierem) is out of place.
NUDIS CERVICIBUS reiecto quae libera vadit amictu Prop. 2.23.13.
590 FALAS Nonius 114 explains haec sunt et in circo, quae apud veteres propter
spectatores e lignis erigebantur; i.e. scaffolding to support extra spectators. DServ.
Aen. 7.702 has this: et in circo falae dicuntur divisiones inter euripum et metas quod
ibi constructis ad tempus turribus his telis (sc. falaricis) pugna edi solebat. We have
no means of deciding between these two explanations, and no warrant for inventing a third. For the dolphins see on 582.
591 RELICTO She divorces him, cf. 224; so (LSJ II 1).
SAGA The sagum (RE s.v.) is a coarse cloak worn by poor people (Sen. Ep. 18.7,
Mart. 6.11.8) and farm labourers (Colum. 1.8.9); cf. Blmner1 257 n. 7, Wilson 104,
Lauffer on Edict. Diocl. 7.60. Its vendor is a sagarius (Marquardt 585, Blmner1
595); specialisation among vestiarii, as in many other occupations at Rome, is
noteworthy (cf. 9.109, SG 1.147 = 1.163, Treggiari PBSR 43, 1975, 61, A. Burford
Craftsmen in Greek and Roman Society (1972) 97).
5923 Like the cave-women of 9. They cannot afford to hire a nurse, as most
well-off women would do.
594 AURATO Pliny NH 33.144, Blmner1 118, Marquardt 30910, RE Betten
372.
5957 tantum medicamina possunt Ovid Met. 7.16, 14.285; sterilitatis medica-

SATIRE SIX297

mentum (causing sterility) [Quintil.] Decl. 327. STERILES FACIT |[341] looks
more like a reference to contraception than to abortion, but the two were not
clearly distinguished by all the ancients; see M. K. Hopkins Comparative Studies
in Society and History 8, 1965, 136, quoting e.g. Pliny NH 24.18 (but not noting that
this passage is probably a garbling of the source of Dioscorides 1.77.2). Juvenals
humanitarian sentiments are perceptible here, as in Fifteen; in ancient thought
generally a foetus might be animal or , but was certainly not homo, and Papinian Dig. 35.2.9.1 specifically asserts this point, though Favorinus ap. Gell. 12.1.9
takes the same attitude as Juvenal, and another humanitarian writer, Ovid, in Am.
2.14 (see Watts Acta Classica (S.A.) 16, 1973, 89) repeatedly applies the verb necare
(cf. Adams Glotta 51, 1973, 282) to abortion. Abortion did not become a crime
until Christianity established firmly the concept that a foetus has a soul. See RAC
Abtreibung, Beseelung, Geburt 389 and 42; RE partus abactio; E. Nardi Procurato
Aborto nel Mondo Greco-Romano (1971) 475 sqq. and passim; S. B. Pomeroy Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves (1976) 168; L. Edelstein Ancient Medicine (1967)
9 sqq. On the use of contraception at Rome see Hopkins l.c. and CQ2 15, 1965, 72;
Salmon 66.
CONDUCIT This emphasises the callousness.
597 is addressed to the imaginary husband, cf. 566.
598601 Cf. on 76.
600 AETHIOPIS Cf. on 2.23; for racial intermixture at Rome cf. Snowden 194.
A stock declamation was matrona Aethiopem peperit (Calp. Flacc. 2, Quintil. Decl.
fr. 8 p. 353 Lehnert).
DECOLOR As compared with Roman complexions, mulatto; the lighter colour of a (Ach. Tat. 3.9.2; cf. Pliny NH 7.51).
601 IMPLERET TABULAS He would be heres ex asse; the same phrase 2.58 of
the maker of a will (for TABULAS cf. 4.19).
NUNQUAM VIDENDUS The first thing seen in the morning was thought
to influence the whole days luck (RE omen 373; cf. Lucian Pseudol. 8, Eun. 6, Aristoph. Frogs 196 ; i.e. a ), and an Ethiopian, because
of the funereal associations of black, would be an ill omen (Plut. Brut. 48 = Florus
2.17.7 = Appian BC 4.134 = Obsequens 70; SHA 10.22.45).
602 TRANSEO 10.273, cf. p. 34. As often, the praeteritio becomes longer than
we are led to expect.
SUPPOSITOS (cf. 1.98) , another womans children passed off as
the wifes own; the comparative frequence of this in the ancient world was due to
the importance of the perpetuation of the family (on 21 and 2.137). See RE suppositio partus and partus suppositus; there is a lively description in Aristoph. Thesm.
502 sqq. and an alleged case in the Roman aristocracy Tac. Ann. 3.22. These suppositi |[342] have previously been expositi by their own parents (RE Aussetzung and
Kinderaussetzung, potestas patria 108996; Blmner1 301, Marquardt 23, Kaser1

298A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

1.342, Westrup (on 9.84) 249).

GAUDIA Cf. 597; DECEPTA because the husbands prayers for a son seem to
be answered, but in reality are not.
603 SPURCOS LACUS is usually taken to mean the public reservoirs, made
turbid by being thronged by men and animals (cf. Sen. Ep. 36.2, Apul. Met. 9.27,
Prop. 2.23.2, Ann. Epigr. 1955 no. 55). Lachmann however took it to mean the
public latrines (on Lucr. 4.1026, which shows an analogous use of lacus; cf. Carcopino 50), and the discovery of papyri has made this seem nearer the truth (M.
Maas Woch. Kl. Phil. 15, 1898, 1189; Carcopino Mm. Soc. des Antiquaires 77, 1928,
5986). For we now have references to children who have been exposed and rescued as (e.g. F. BilabelE. Kiessling Sammelbuch Gr.
Urkunden 5 (1955) 7619; Pap. Soc. Arch. Athens ed. G. A. Petropulos (1939) 20.13
sqq. . is glossed sportellarius CGL 2.187.34,
i.e. a child exposed in a sportella, cf. RE Kinderaussetzung 467.21; further instances
in PreisigkeKiessling s.v. (2)). This is fully discussed by Westermann 6a
= RE suppl. 6.903; Maroi in Raccolta di Scritti in Onore di G. Lumbroso (1925) 377,
3878, 3927 (but it is at least doubtful if the names , Stercorius etc. have
anything to do with this; see Kajanto 246 and in Arctos2 3, 1962, 45 sqq.), W. Graf
Uxkull-Gylleband on the Gnomon of the Idios Logos 41 and 107 (Berlin Gr. Urk.
5 (1919) 2 p. 54; ibid. 92 is a probable reading), Biezunska-Malowist
Jahrb. f. Wirtschaftsgesch. 1971, teil II, 129.
SAEPE or atque? 442 suggests that atque is the interpolation, and Ps reading
lacu satque (Martyn Eranos 72, 1974, 136) with the last five letters written in an
erasure by P2 indicates that it too originally had saepe.
604 PONTIFICES, SALIOS Asyndeton bimembre (HS 828, KS 2.149). The Aemilii Scauri (on 2.35) were patrician, and this was a necessary qualification for a
Salius. Since Augustus all major PONTIFICES had to be senators (Mommsen1
3.566, Wissowa 492).
605 IMPROBA mischievous. A foundling is Soph. O 1080.
OMNI = toto; the nearest parallel to this which I can find is Stat. Silv. 1.4.32
dives praedae tamen accipit omni / exuvias Diana tholo. For the separation of OM
NI from SINU cf. on 495.
608 MIMUM (cf. O 27 and 5.157) For Fortunes amusements cf. 3.40; Hor. Odes
3.29.50, Pliny Ep. 4.11.2.
HIS SE INGERIT She thrusts herself on them; cf. Lucan 2.263. |[343]
PRODUCIT promotes; cf. on 1.39.
610 THESSALA Thessaly is the proverbial country of witches and magic; cf.
Lucan 6 and the story of Apul. Met.; RE Mageia 320, Hopfner2 II 21 p. 12, DS
venenum 713b. It was a centre of the cult of Hecate. Menander fr. 718 mentions
of wives, and Plut. Coniug. Praec. 5.139a warns against them.
611 VALEAT sc. uxor; cf. on 379.

SATIRE SIX299

MENTEM VEXARE MARITI Cases of this are mentioned Aristoph. Thesm.

561, Tac. Ann. 4.22.3; cf. RE philtron 206, Gow on Theocr. 2.58. Ovid AA 2.106
philtra nocent animis vimque furoris habent (99 Haemonias artes); Plaut. Amph.
1044 (after a reference to Thessalum veneficum); Tac. Ann. 12.66.1.
612 SOLEA (i.e. a sandal consisting merely of a sole tied on with thongs; RE
sandalia 2257, 2261.32) PULSARE NATES As if he were a child; cf. Pers. 5.169,
Anth. Lat. 156.3, Gow CQ2 6, 1956, 232.
INDE (sc. a philtris) EST QUOD Thes. 7.1.1115.82.
614 ABC The Danaid simile indicates a man maddened by a love philtre who
cannot satisfy his lust even by continual indulgence. But the lines can hardly be by
Juvenal. They cannot be simply an alternative to 615, since the reference to Caligula would then be abruptly introduced in 614C, and 616 would not follow well on
this line. The style of the lines is poor; ISTUD is weak, and ONUS QUO RABIDUS
is as odd a combination as that in 138. It is moreover doubtful if Juvenal would
have called Caligula REX NOSTER. Emperors are occasionally spoken of as reges
(Mommsen1 2.764 n. 4, RE princeps 210818, Alfoldi 149 = Rm. Mitt. 50, 1935, 31),
but normally in a pejorative sense which cannot be intended here, since then the
contrast with Phalaris would break down. The only valid parallel known to me is
Stat. Silv. 4.1.46 rex magne (which is not to be eliminated by unnatural punctuation); cf. also regina Pliny NH 29.20 of Messalina. The lines may be an illustrative
quotation from another poet, like 5589, or they may have been composed to give
a reference to ET (also) 615, misunderstood as and.
IPSIS Like the DOLIA (for which cf. Hilgers 174). The version in which not
only the jars into which the water is emptied but also the pitchers in which it is
carried are leaky seems to be found first in Seneca Med. 7489 (see Costa there and
in Mnem.4 26, 1973, 289).
DE Cf. 5.25, 7.197.
PHALARIM Cf. Sen. Dial. 9.14.4 Phalaris ille = Caligula.
PHALARIM DEDISTI (cf. 14.52) is an instance of the idiom discussed on 2.3,
Caligula showed himself a Phalaris; cf. Dziatzko-Haulers Anhang on Ter. Ph. 476.
615 Neros mother Agrippina was Caligulas sister; the periphrasis, |[344] typical of Juvenal, links the two great Julio-Claudian eccentrics contemptuously (for
AVUNCULUS cf. on 14.43). Suet. Cal. 50 creditur potionatus a Caesonia uxore
amatorio quidem medicamento, sed quod in furorem verterit; Joseph. AJ 19.193.
616 i.e. hippomanes, cf. 626 and on 133.
TOTAM hints at an overdose; INFUDIT is a technical medical term (Thes. s.v.
1503.57).
TREMULI Unsteady because new-born.
617 An argument a fortiori; cf. 2.656, 8.198.
618 Caligulas madness caused chaos throughout the empire. Hor. Odes 3.3.7 si
FRACTUS illabatur orbis (= CUNCTA), / impavidum ferient RUINAE; for COM-

300A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

PAGE cf. Tac. Hist. 4.74.3. Pliny NH 7.45 speaks of Caligula and Nero (cf. 615) as
faces generis humani, and Sen. Dial. 11.17.3 of the imperium adustum by Caligula; Tiberius declared that in Caligula (Suet. 11) se Phaethontem orbi terrarum
educare.
619 The Emperor has as much power for the happiness or misery of men as Jupiter himself (cf. on 8.92). Caligula tried to associate himself with Jupiter (Weinstock 287 n. 4).
620 ERIT will be found to be, cf. on 1.126 and Lucan 1.31.
AGRIPPINAE BOLETUS 5.147.
621 PRAECORDIA Hor. Epode 3.5 quid hoc veneni saevit in praecordiis?
622 TREMULUM CAPUT, LONGA M.L. SALIVA Suet. Claud. 30, Sen. Apoc.
5 and 7.
DESCENDERE IN CAELUM The oxymoron is reminiscent of Sen. Apoc. 11
Cyllenius illum trahit ad inferos a caelo unde negant redire quemquam (a deliberately paradoxical application of Catullus words; it takes a Claudius to get himself
ejected from heaven).
6246 also depend from SIQUIDEM (12.107); ILLE is contrasted with HAEC
(adversative asyndeton).
FERRUM ATQUE IGNES Cf. 14.22, Otto Nachtrge 238, Ovid Met. 3.698.
HAEC POTIO Caesonias philtre. For LACERAT cf. Suet. Cal. 28, for MIXTOS PATRES ibid. 49.2 and Sen. Dial. 5.18.3, for TORQUET Sen. l.c.
626 Cf. 616; a concluding epiphonema.
VENEFICA This covers a wider field than just poisoning; in fact venenum
originally meant love-potion, from Venus (WaldeHofmann s.v., R. Schilling La
Religion Romaine de Vnus (1954) 43). Cf. Mommsen2 635, Pharr TAPA 63, 1932,
2724, Rayment Class. Bull. 35, 19589, 50 (rhetorical parallels), DS venenum 714b,
and see Dig. 48.8 on the lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis, Quintil. 9.2.105 ut non
is demum sit veneficus qui vitam abstulit data potione, sed etiam qui mentem (cf.
7.3.30), Afran. 380. |[345]
627 The poisoning step-mother (134; cf. Otto noverca with Nachtrge 113, 193,
241, 282) is a stock character in verse and rhetoric; cf. Sen. Contr. 9.5 and 6 with
Winterbottoms index p. 640 s.v. step-mother, Jerome Ep. 54.15 quodsi de priore
uxore habens subolem te domum introduxerit, etiam si clementissima fueris, omnes
comoediae et mimographi et communes rhetorum loci in novercam saevissimam
declamabunt; Quintil. 5.10.19; Ritters index to [Quintil.] Decl. Min. pp. 4812; I.
Opelt Die Lat. Schimpfwrter (1965) 202, Humbert 198. An historical case is that
of Agrippina and Britannicus.
PAELEX is the second wifes invidious name for the first wife; cf. [Sen.] Herc.
Oet. 1499 (Hercules to Alcmena) paelicem feci tuam (Juno) credi novercam.
FAS EST Cf. 1.131, 6.329.
629 We pass to children who have lost their father, who would consequently

SATIRE SIX301

be pupilli under the guardianship of a tutor, and who are poisoned by their own
mother. Such was Vettius Crispinus, the addressee of Stat. Silv. 5.2, whose father
was dead (64) and whose mother tried to poison him (76); cf. White CP 68, 1973,
283.
The link with the foregoing must be this: nowadays mothers kill even their
own children (which we still regard as a crime), so it can no longer be considered
immoral for step-mothers to kill their stepchildren. But this is distinctly artificial,
and I think that Duff is right in suggesting quoque for ego, especially as P evidently
had equo.
CUSTODITE ANIMAS Cf. 654 (9.123 being probably spurious).
631 ADIPATA A kind of sweet cake (Mart. 14.223 the breakfast of schoolboys).
LIVIDA They turn the body dark (cf. on 1.72 and Goetz ALL 15, 1908, 534); Ovid
Met. 1.147 lurida and Lucan 4.322 pallida aconita. For the active sense see on 382,
1.70, 7.206.
633 The line stutters (p) with fear. The emperors had a praegustator (RE s.v.,
SG 4.50 = 4.48) as a precaution, and prominent men did the same (DS veneficium 715); cf. Blmner1 396, Marquardt 147, Kaufman CP 27, 1932, 160 and for
at Athen. 4.171b sqq. In Sen. Contr. 9.6 (see on 627) the father says (19)
ipse omnes praegustavi cibos.
PAPAS A childs name for his paedggus; the word is so explained in glosses
(CGL 7.45b), is used by the glossator of P on 7.218, and appears in inscriptions
(Heraeus ALL 13, 1904, 157; add CEL 2191.4).
634 These, it is alleged in an , are tales more like the fables (FINGIMUS cf. 15.18) of tragedy (643; for COTURNUM cf. 15.29).
635 LEGEM 7.102; a word significant for the formal classification of literature
into genres by ancient critics (Brink on Hor. AP 135, |[346] J. F. DAlton Roman
Literary Theory and Criticism (1931) 398 sqq., Coffey2 56; Sen. Dial. 9.1.14).
636 Sophocleo cothurno Mart. 5.30.1 after Verg. Buc. 8.10. Bacchari (here
followed by an internal accusative) from Bacchus, the god of tragedy. Juvenals
style rises to suit the context.
HIATU Of grandiloquence Pers. 5.3, Hor. AP 138, and similarly etc.
There is no reference to the tragic mask (3.175); cf. Prop. 2.31.6 carmen hiare.
637 Rutuli is one of Silius innumerable equivalents for Romani. Here it adds a
suitable nuance of primitive uncorrupt virtus.
MONTIBUS Cf. on 5; CAELO LATINO the pure air of Latium, cf. 3.84, Hor.
Odes 2.7.4 Italo caelo, Epist. 1.6.77.
638 UTINAM VANI Prop. 3.13.59 (on 286).
PONTIA A poisoner who killed her own children, Mart. 4.43.5, 6.75, 2.34.6;
all that we know about her is derived from s garbled note. She was perhaps the
daughter of C. Petronius Pontius Nigrinus, cos. A.D. 37; the views of G. Bagnani
Arbiter of Elegance (1954) 86 are improbable.

302A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

FECI guilty, cf. Mart. 9.15.2, Sen. Contr. 8.1.3 (De Decker 140 quotes other
occurrences from declamations); cf. 4.12, 6.173, 14.185 and the formula fecisse videtur used in giving a verdict (Cic. In Pis. 9 with Nisbet, Daube1 73, Kl. Pauly s.v.
sententia 118.38).
639 ACONITA 1.158.
640 As explained by Housman, this means quamquam ipsa (most unexpectedly) facinus peregi, tamen peregi; he compares tamen Herculeae Ovid Fasti 2.312,
tamen haec Verg. Buc. 6.9, tamen lignum Ovid Met. 1.556.
641 Sc. occidisti or the like, an excited ellipse (cf. 1.89).
VIPERA Eur. Alc. 310 of a step-mother; cf. Otto
Nachtrge 227. Her answer in 642 hisses.
SEPTEM So Medea (Colchis 643) in Sen. Med. 9547.
643 CREDAMUS Cf. 15.117; TRAGICIS cf. 634.
644 PROCNE e.g. in the Tereus of Faustus 7.12.
CONOR sc. dicere; audeo is similarly used (cf. 2.2).
ET Like this modern case.
6457 GRANDIA (cf. 4.115) MONSTRA (cf. 286) SUMMIS MONSTRIS
See on 16.910.
MONSTRA AUDEBANT 15.1212; maius parat / Medea monstrum Sen. Med.
675.
64652 The same distinction between premeditated and impulsive crimes is
made by Cic. De Off. 1.27.
ADMIRATIO Cf. 13.53. HUNC SEXUM Cf. 135 imperio sexus; notum furens
quid femina possit. NOCENTES plural ; IECUR 1.45; |[347] INCENDENTE 13.14. PRAECIPITES Verg. Aen. 2.316 furor iraque mentem praecipitant.
64950 describes an overhanging precipice, over the edge of which rocks fall
straight down into the valley, whereas in the simile at Verg. Aen. 12.684 they roll
down the mountainside.
650 should end with a colon; 64650 and 6512 are contrasted with adversative
asyndeton.
651 NON TULERIM Cf. on 2.24.
COMPUTAT Counts up her gains; cf. 9.40 and Sen. Ep. 14.9.
652 SPECTANT In the theatre.
653 PERMUTATIO Val. Max. 4.6.1 Admete qui coniugis tuae fata pro tuis
permutari passus es. Unfortunately for Juvenal inscriptions record cases in which
wives vowed their lives in return for those of their husbands (Lattimore 2045,
Latte 344; cf. AP 7.691).
654 ANIMAM Cf. 629. CATELLAE Their lap-dog; CEL 1176 is an example of
an epitaph to one.
655 BELIDES The Danaids, who all except Hypermestra killed their husbands.
ERIPHYLE sent her husband Amphiaraus to his death because of greed (cf. 646,

SATIRE SIX303

651). CLYTAEMESTRAM Caelius called Clodia, who was suspected of murdering her husband, a quadrantaria Clytaemestra (Quintil. 8.6.53).
MANE When you go out in the morning (cf. 601), after they have committed
murder in the night (though this suits the Danaids better than Eriphyle). Housman suggested mille. For VICUS cf. 2.8.
657 REFERT = ntrst, makes a difference; 5.123, 11.21 etc.
BIPENNEM Juvenal follows the account of e.g. Sen. Ag. 897. It is so heavy that
it needs two hands to wield it.
658 INSULSAM ET FATUAM Transferred epithets, contrasted with TENUI.
659 RUBETAE See on 1.70.
660 ATRIDES Her Agamemnon, i.e. her husband; cf. 566.
661 PONTICA Not exclusively a transferred epithet for the intractable Pntc,
but alluding to the reputation of Pontus for venena (Verg. Buc. 8.95; e.g. aconite,
which some thought derived from the city Aconae; RE 1182); this is the
area from which Medea (643) came. Mithridates, who was successively defeated by Sulla, Lucullus and Pompey (Florus 1.40.2), was believed to have protected
himself against poisoning by constantly taking small doses as a prophylactic to
inure himself; see on 14.252.

[348]

Satire Seven

This poem consists of an introduction stating the theme followed by a number of

exempla to illustrate it, very much like Ten. The introduction makes two converse
statements:
121 The Emperor is the only hope (spes 1) for poets.
2235 There is no hope (spes 30) from any other source; the nobiles (dives ava
rus 30) who ought to patronise them do not do so. Thus the attack on meanness of
the rich at Rome is carried on from One and Five (cf. e.g. 5.113).
Now follows the detailed exemplification for the poets (3697). After this Juvenal passes on to other activities not mentioned in his introduction. Historians too
(98104) fail to receive proper patronage (104); actually his argument is weak here
(see ad loc.). Next follows the other important branch of prose, oratory (10549).
In the historical situation of Juvenals time this necessarily means forensic oratory; and of course Juvenals theme makes it impossible for him to take as his exemplum those rich grandees, like Pliny, who still maintained the tradition of looking
after the legal interests of their clients without pay. He therefore takes the causidici, though he elsewhere refers to this class in terms of sarcasm (cf. 6.439, 15.111),
actually contrasting them with orators proper (10.11821; Cicero, there contrasted
with causidici, is here one of them 139) and making unfavourable mention (11.34)
of one of them, Matho (1.32), who is here named with sympathy (129). We may
indeed wonder why, if the profession was so unprofitable, the ambitious father
directs his son towards it at 14.191. In short, the weakness of the rhetorical method
of proof by exempla is as apparent here (cf. on 189) as in Ten (see p. 31); there are
and always were successful and unsuccessful lawyers, just as there are successful
and unsuccessful generals. It is of course perfectly possible to feel genuine sympathy for people whom one dislikes or despises, and I do seem to catch such a tone
of sympathy in 117 (with miser cf. 27 and 154, with lasso 1.132). |[349]
The practising orators are naturally followed by the nonpractising, the rhetores
(150214); here again criticism of the rich but mean lauti is emphasised (175 sqq.).
From the rhetores he passes to their colleagues, the grammatici (21543), one of
304

SATIRE SEVEN305

whom had bewailed his lot (on 157); this enables him to end with a climax (cf. 217)
of poverty and misery.
Townend (PCA 69, 1972, 27 and JRS 63, 1973, 152) argues that Juvenal is reflecting the arrangement of Suetonius De Viris Illustribus, which he thinks began with
the surviving Grammatici and Rhetores, continued with orators and historians,
and ended with poets; Juvenal will have reversed this order because he wanted
his own profession of poetry to come first and desired the climax just mentioned.
We may ask why, if one can look to the emperor for patronage, those who
might expect to receive it are in such a miserable state of poverty. The obvious
answer is that the emperor in question has not yet had time to do anything about
it (cf. 201; the hope expressed is all in the future, posthac 18, a word suggesting
a new departure), i.e. he has just succeeded to power; and what is known of the
chronology of Juvenals satires admirably fits the dating of this poem to the accession of Hadrian, whose interest in culture is well known (cf. SHA 1.16.810).
However, he is but a faint hope in the gloom (1 tantum, 2 solus) and hardly relieves
it; the era of generous patrons is not likely to return (945). It should also be noted
that the hope expressed is remote and impersonal; there is no hint that Juvenal
expects anything for himself or his kind of poetry. Indeed he is for once making
common cause with the writers of elevated poetry whom he had contemptuously dismissed in One, but toward whom he here shows sympathy (though see on
12); note also how he refers to recitations here in contrast to 3.9. Of course he
does not feel obliged to refrain from irony at the expense of poets as occasion
arises (instances are pointed out in the notes). Wiesen Hermes 101, 1973, 466 well
speaks of his technique, used repeatedly, of simultaneously asserting a truth and
questioning his own assertion by parody, exaggeration and self-ridicule; but this
questioning must not be carried to the point of supposing that the central point
of the whole poem is put in doubt, that the victims are implied by Juvenal to be
as despicable as those who exploit them. Juvenal plainly links himself |[350] with
the poets in 489, and in 1316 explicitly asserts that they do not descend to the
lowest degradation.
Complaints much like this are uttered by Martial 3.38 (poets and orator-lawyers), 5.56 (grammatici, rhetores, poets contrasted with citharoedi (cf. 3.4.8),
choraulae (for both cf. Juv. 177), praecones (Juv. 6)), 6.8 (poets and causidici contrasted with praecones); cf. also on 16 and 27. It is interesting to compare the appeal
of a grammaticus which met with a dusty response from Hadrian, AP 9.137. As far
as poetry is concerned, Juvenal has drawn much from the speech of Aper, who
despises it, in Tac. Dial. 9, often quoted in the notes. The connection with the emperor recalls Calp. Sic. 4, in which Corydon has dissuaded his brother Amyntas
from poetry; frange puer calamos (pipes) et inanes desere Musas (cf. Juv. 27, where
however calamum means pen) quid enim tibi fistula reddet / quo tutere famem?
(236). Now however spes magis adridet (31) because of the indulgentia (33) of

306A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Meliboeus; now per te secura saturi recubamus in umbra (37) and have avoided the
necessity of emigrating to Spain as a hired shepherd, nec quisquam nostras inter
dumeta Camenas / respiceret (46). The song which Corydon and Amyntas then
compose is in honour of Caesar, i.e. Nero (Severus Alexander according to Champlin JRS 68, 1978, 105); me quoque facundo comitatus Apolline Caesar / respiciat.
There is also a certain resemblance to Theocr. 16 ( ), in which Theocritus complains of the general stinginess towards poets and the sad state of the
(8 sqq.; cf. tristes Camenae), and delicately insinuates that he would be glad
of Hierons patronage in return for commemorating him in poetry.
As for the general situation of patronage in Juvenals day, it must be remarked
that Plinys letters show plenty of it (e.g. in his own case of Martial and Suetonius),
and that Martial and Statius seem to have received it from a number of people, in
spite of the formers many humorous complaints of poverty. However the writers
of this time do not seem to have looked for consistent large-scale support from
any one source such as Maecenas had provided (cf. White JRS 68, 1978, 74 sqq.).
Juvenals black picture no doubt owes its colour to his own lack of any literary
patron; though he addresses some poems to certain individuals, the addresses do
not take the form of dedication which suggests patronage. |[351]
1 RATIO STUDIORUM Inducements (6.94) to writing; studia in this sense (cf.
17) is common in Silver Latin.
2 TEMPESTATE See on 4.140.
3 IAM may go either with temptarent or celebres notique.
4 BALNEOLUM A contemptuous diminutive. This would be a balneum meri
torium; cf. 233, Balsdon1 27, Blmner1 421, Marquardt 272. Deserted as Gabii allegedly was (3.192, 6.56, 10.100), it was visited for its sulphur baths (Hor. Epist.
1.15.9, Strabo 5.3.11.238).
FURNOS Bakeries; Marquardt 416, Blmner2 67.
CONDUCERE Cf. 3.31 and 38, and on 1.108; for c. balneum cf. Marquardt 273
n. 1, Blmner1 422 n. 1.
6 PRAECONES A despised but lucrative profession (3.157, RE s.v. 1198, Blmner1
614, Citronis introduction to Mart. 1.85, Cic. 2 Verr. 2.122, Quintil. 1.12.17, Steinmetz on Theophr. Char. 6.5); more lucrative than poetry, Mart. 5.56, 6.8.
7 ATRIA Auction-rooms (Thes. s.v. 1103.11, DE s.v. 760a). This word and ESU
RIENS (13.99) are deliberately incongruous with the poetic trappings of Muses
and their haunts; how are the mighty fallen! There are similar effects in 8 and
1112.
CLIO does not differ from Terpsichore 35, and means simply Muse. The differentiation of the functions of the Muses was late and never imposed itself completely.
8 PIERIA IN UMBRA Cf. 59, 105, Mart. 9.84.3.

SATIRE SEVEN307

QUADRANS TIBI NULLUS Mart. 2.44.9 et quadrans mihi nullus est in arca
(the source of s reading here). This was the smallest coin in use (on 6.447).
9 AMES You must put up with (jussive, cf. 1.14), cf. Plin. Pan. 31.4 etc.;
and are similarly used.
MACHAERA (or -AS; Masson, ZPE 11, 1973, 2) was clearly a contemporary
praeco.
10 COMMISSA AUCTIO The strife of the auction (cf. 5.29); mock-heroic.
STANTIBUS The by-standers.
11 OENOPHORUM 6.426; TRIPEDES may mean either cooking vessels
(Hilgers 82, 290; Blmner1 159) or three-legged tables, the cheaper kind (Hor.
Serm. 1.3.13, Ovid Met. 8.662), monopodia being more expensive and elegant.
ARMARIA Probably book-cases (RE s.v., Blmner1 128, Callmer Opusc. Archaeol. 3, 1944, 188, E. G. Budde Armarium und (1940) 30); CISTAS 3.206.
12 With the book-cases books also are sold; the point may be like that noted
on 7, or, as suggests, it may be that they are poor tragedies which their owners
want to get rid of (maybe Juvenal is |[352] again indicating the dismissive attitude
to mythological poetry which he took in One). This ex-poet auctions works by his
fellow-poets.
ALCITHOEN She was turned into a bat according to vid Met. 4.1 sqq., 388
sqq.; other versions make her become a cannibal.
PACCI The name again at 12.99, q.v.
TEREA Cf. 92, 6.644.
13 Cf. 16.30. Ovid Am. 3.9.47 sed tamen hoc melius quam si
SUB IUDICE On 4.12, 15.26; Tac. Ann. 3.36.3, Laus Pis. 29, 65.
14 VIDISTI More exact would be videris; cf. on 3.100.
FACIANT i.e. hoc faciant, let them do so; see Munro on Lucr. 4.1112 and add
Plaut. Persa 64.
EQUITES ASIANI Sarcastic; they can hardly be given the formal title equites
Romani. Cf. Gell. 19.9.1 adulescens e terra Asia de equestri loco, i.e. from the Roman province of Asia; for such provincial equites cf. Stein 397 sqq., SG 1.103 and
134 = 1.110 and 146. Cic. Pro Flacco 60 declares that witnesses from Asia readily
commit perjury.
15 A spurious line. Bthynus is elsewhere invariable (cf. 10.162, 15.1) until Gregory of Nazianzen, AP 8.93.4, and emendations to eliminate the anomaly offend
against Juvenals metrical usage. This however would not in itself be decisive; what
is decisive is the clumsy verbosity. The line is partly modelled on 6.1989 dicas
haec mollius Haemo / quamquam et Carpophoro; it began with quamquam added
as a gloss and was then filled out to a complete verse.
16 This line has been explained by MacKay CR1 58, 1944, 46. One of their shoes,
by leaving the ankle bare, makes them ridiculous, i.e. it exposes the scar left by
the fetters which they wore when they came to Rome as slaves (cf. the concealed

308A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

brand-marks at Mart. 2.29); Mart. 10.76.3 de Cappadocis eques catastis (the whole
epigram is comparable). Strictly equites were supposed to have been descended
from two generations of ingenui, but the law was often ignored (cf. 1.106, 3.1559,
SG 1.135 = 1.148, Stein 109, Reinhold Historia 20, 1971, 286).
TRADUCIT 8.17, 2.159, 11.31.
GALLICA A low shoe, Gell. 13.22.5, RE s.v. and Schuh 755, Blmner1 223, Marquardt 595.
18 NECTIT Cf. Ovid Ex Ponto 4.2.30, Riedner 59 and Pindar fr. 179
Snell = 169 Bowra, Bacchyl. 5.9, 18.8; cf. on 54. CANORIS because poetry was conventionally referred to as sung. The diction and thought are deliberately elevated.
LAURUMQUE MOMORDIT As the Delphic priestess (though not before the
second century A.D.) and other prophetesses were supposed to (ParkeWormell
(on 6.555) 1.26, Ogle AJP 31, 1910, 310); hence |[353] the transference of the idea to
poets inspired by Apollo, Ovid Ex Ponto 2.5.67. Cf. Ogle 307, Kambylis 213, RE
Lorbeer 1441.43.
20 HOC AGITE Be diligent, cf. 48, 5.157; the opposite is aliud agere. Sen. De
Ben. 3.36.2 hoc agite, optimi iuvenes.
21 Stat. Silv. 5.2.125 ergo age (cf. Juv. 20), nam magni ducis indulgentia pulsat.
Indulgentia had become a technical term for imperial favour (indulgentia ducis
of Julius Caesar to his army, Suet. 69); see Thes. s.v. 1247.23, DE s.v., Syme1 7556
(who points out that Hadrian was the first to put indulgentia on his coins, cf.
Strack 2.123), H. Kloft Liberalitas Principis (1970) 98 n. 66, FreiStolba Mus. Helv.
26, 1969, 36. Vespasian gave 500,000 sesterces to the poet Saleius (80), on which
Tac. Dial. 9 remarks pulchrum id quidem, indulgentiam principis ingenio mereri.
23 PRAESIDIA Cf. Laus Pis. 2435 and NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 1.1.2.
CROCEAE MEMBRANA TABELLAE The parchment of the yellow page,
i.e. by enallage, the yellow page of parchment; tabella (cf. Mart. 14.192.1) because
the page in the codex form of book was the same shape as the wooden wax-covered square used in pugillares to which the name properly belongs. Here the codex form is used as a writers notebook for rough drafts (cf. Mart. 14.7, Quintil.
10.3.31; T. Birt Antike Buchwesen (1882) 5760), but it was also coming into use for
published texts (Mart. 1.2.3 hos eme quos artat brevibus membrana tabellis). See
Blmner1 647 n. 10, Marquardt 821, C. H. Roberts The Codex (Proc. Brit. Acad. 40,
1954) 173, E. G. Turner Typology of the Early Codex (1977) 3840. This is like the
peritura charta 1.56 and 18.
Birt Kritik und Hermeneutik (1913) 291 implausibly takes Juvenal to mean the
covers (membrana) of the book consisting of yellow leaves.
MEMBRANA Ps implentur would make this neuter plural, but that is a very
late form, though Apul. Met. 6.26 has membranulum.
CROCEAE Isid. Or. 6.11.2 fiebant primum coloris lutei, id est crocei, postea vero
Romae candida membrana reperta sunt (ibid. 4 is clearly mistaken); Edict of Di-

SATIRE SEVEN309

ocletian 7.38 membranario pergameni vel crocati; cf. RE membrana 598. The
proceedings of the Synod of A.D. 680 mention a
(liber membranaceus crocatus); see P. LabbG. Cossart Sacrosancta Concilia 6
(1671) p. 792. Johnson CQ2 23, 1973, 341 suggests that parchment was dyed to make
ink adhere to it. There is not likely to be any reference to the use of saffron as a preservative (Lucian Adv. Ind. 16), which would seem more appropriate to papyrus.
25 VENERIS MARITO = Vulcano by antonomasia (cf. 10.112) = igni by metonymy (cf. 10.132, Quintil. 8.6.24, Wissowa 10). For |[354] this type of metonymy cf.
Lucr. 2.655 sqq., Pease on Cic. De Nat. Deor. 2.60, Fordyce on Aen. 7.113, Haupt
2.166, O. Gross De Metonymiis (Diss. Phil. Hal. 19.4, 1911) 407, and for the joke
Catull. 36.5 (which also combines antonomasia and metonymy), NisbetHubbard
on Hor. Odes 1.16.3; here it deflates the bombastic diction of Telesinus.
TELESINE One of the iuvenes of 20, a poet addressed like Vettius (150) and
Palaemon (219).
26 TINEA PERTUNDE (5.131) A sin of omission, neglect, is spoken of as one of
commission, as if he deliberately caused the maggots to bore holes in the books; cf.
Housman on Lucan 1.103 and 3.485. Worms come from the wood of bookshelves,
walls or floors to attack books.
POSITOS i.e. repositos, stored away in scrinia or capsae.
27 Mart. 9.73.9 frange leves calamos et scinde (cf. 177), Thalia, libellos (see the
poem generally); Calp. Sic. quoted in the introduction.
VIGILATA PROELIA Battles (in an epic) which you have sat up at night to
write; cf. on 99, 1.51 and Horace there quoted, Cinna fr. 11 p. 89 Morel (after Callim. Epigr. 27.4), Lucr. 1.142, Traenkle Mus. Helv. 24, 1967, 87, KS 1.2812, Lyne on
Ciris 46.
28 PARVA SUBLIMIA A pointed juxtaposition, cf. 3.207.
CELLA A garret like a slaves room; RE s.v. 1877.46, Blmner1 46 and on 3.225.
29 UT Ironical as 177 etc.
VENIAS you may come forward; but it differs very little from fias, cf. HS 395,
Fordyce on Aen. 7.470, Shackleton Bailey on Prop. 1.10.25, Enk on 1.4.10 and the
variants at Ovid Trist. 2.126.
HEDERIS Poetic plural, for metrical convenience; cf. Maas ALL 12, 1902, 528,
Cunningham CP 44, 1949, 9. This denotes the Bacchic poet (cf. 60; RE Efeu 2838),
as the laurel (19) the Apollinine, cf. 64. Busts of poets were wreathed with ivy
(real, not sculptured; Ovid Trist. 1.7.12), cf. Pers. prol. 5 quorum imagines lambent / hederae sequaces (this prologue refers to the drinking of poetic springs, cf.
58; the pallor of poets, cf. 97; and poets are accused of writing for money to feed
themselves).
IMAGINE Busts of poets were placed in libraries, a custom introduced by Asinius Pollio (Pliny NH 35.910); cf. Marshall Phoenix 30, 1976, 263, RE Bibliotheken
4212, SG 3.38 = 2.225, Marquardt 615.

310A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

MACRA Because the poets own privations have made him thin.
30 DIVES AVARUS Ovid AA 3.750, Sen. NQ 1.16.1, Rutil. Lupus p. 15.2 RLM.
TANTUM LAUDARE But not to give him any money; cf. Cic. Ad |[355] Att.
14.5.2, Mart. 5.16.3, 9.49.9, Tac. Dial. 9 laudem inanem et infructuosam.
DISERTOS This word is not common in the specific sense of poet (cf. on 1.15),
though facundus is; but see Mart. 6.61.7.
IUNONIS AVEM The peacock (RE Hera 384, Toynbee 251, Thompson1 ).
For the point of LAUDARE cf. Ovid AA 1.627 laudatas expandit avis Iunonia
pennas with Hollis note, Met. 13.802; praise makes the peacock preen itself, but
does not feed it.
SED See on 6.279.
33 He is becoming too old to be a merchant (14.277; this certainly requires patientia), soldier or gladiator (11.6), or farmer; cf. Tac. Ann. 11.7.1, Laus Pisonis (cf.
on 212) 2445, Norden 30.
345 For TERPSICHORE see on 7, for -QUE -QUE on 5.49, for ET on 1.74;
nuda (destitute; 5.163) senectus [Ovid] Her. 9.154, cf. Petron. quoted on 145.
36 ACCIPE 13.120, 15.31; NUNC 11.64 (some implausibly see a contrast with
tunc 34 and understand now while there is still time); ARTES the devices of patrons; CONFERAT cf. 3.51.
37 There was a library in the temple of Apollo on the Palatine, and another in
another temple there to Augustus, begun by Tiberius and Livia and dedicated by
Caligula, and known as the novum templum. Mart. 12.2.7 addressing his book says
iure tuo veneranda novi pete limina templi, / reddita Pierio sunt ubi tecta choro,
and some have deduced from this that this library was dedicated to the Muses; but
Martial may well only mean that it is dedicated to culture. If therefore Juvenal has
specific temples in mind, he must be referring to the aedes Herculis Musarum, or
perhaps solely to the temple of Apollo with its library under the patronage of the
Muses; but he may only mean that the poet renounces his allegiance to Apollo and
the Muses (cf. Mart. 2.89.3), replaced by another god, the patron whom he colit.
38 IPSE FACIT VERSUS At this time amateur poets (e.g. Pliny) proliferate;
cf. 1.17 tot. The patron yields place only to Homer, and that only because of his
antiquity, causa antiquitatis (Sedigitus ap. Gell. 15.24); cf. Hor. Epist. 2.1.20 sqq.,
Lucian Merc. Cond. 35. MILLE ANNOS is a round number which had been current since Vell Pat. 1.5.3 intra mille (annos) natus (about A.D. 30) and is repeated
by Pliny NH 7.74 (under Vespasian). For recitations see on 1.3.
MACULOSAS Damp-stained because disused. The spelling -onsus in such adjectives is rare and doubtful outside formonsus, cf. SchnwerthWeymann ALL 5,
1888, 194, so BICS 14, 1967, 42 is to be corrected.
COMMODAT AEDES This does not cost him anything. Evidently the house
in which the patron lives (cf. 1.12) is not meant, but another |[356] owned by him.
Cf. Tac. Dial. 9.34 domum mutuatur et auditorium exstruit et subsellia conducit

SATIRE SEVEN311

et libellos dispergit.
DULCEDINE FAMAE Ovid Ex Ponto 1.5.578; dulcedine accensus Pliny Ep.
8.14.3.
41 HAEC merely acts as antecedent to QUAE, cf. 6.5323, 14.445; the only
form of is used by Juvenal is id (cf. the variants at 14.164). However there is certainly some awkwardness here; perhaps aedes, ac (so ) is correct, with a
semi-colon after annos 39.
LONGE i.e. diu, cf. on 6.561.
FERRATA ferreas aedes Plaut. Persa 570; ferratam Danaes domum Prop.
2.20.12.
SERVIRE Mart. 10.30.28.
SOLLICITAS PORTAS Gates of a city fearing attack; perhaps we should recognise a sense vigilant in this adjective (Livy 5.47.3, Ovid Met. 11.599). The house
seems to want to exclude the listeners, and is far from inviting.
43 SCIT Cf. Pers. 1.534. The freedmen (cf. Mart. 3.46.8) sit at the end of the
benches ( Epictet. 3.4.4) so that the shouts of applause will not seem
to come from a hired claque (cf. Pliny Ep. 2.14.4); Quintil. 4.2.37 clamorem dis
positae multitudinis, Suet. Nero 20. For the applause of clients (COMITUM;
on 1.46) cf. 13.32.
REGUM On 1.136; SUBSELLIA (86) Tacitus quoted on 40.
ANABATHRA (an uncertain restoration on CIG 2924, from Tralles; see L.
Robert tudes Anatoliennes (1937) 409) = Epictet. 3.23.35, rising tiers of
seats at the back of the room supported on scaffolding (TIGILL). The auditorium is arranged like a theatre, in which the ORCHESTRA is for senators, there
are 14 rows of seats (here SUBSELLIA) for equites (on 3.154), and the plebs sit in
the cunei (6.61; here ANABATHRA); theatrum is applied to a recitation-hall Hor.
Epist. 1.19.41, cf. NisbetHubbard on Odes 2.1.10. The senators have cushioned
chairs (CATHEDRAE), whereas the benches would be bare; cf. Pliny Ep. 8.21.2,
Mart. 1.76.14.
TIGILLO Collective singular, as often with materials (on 3.201).
POSITA i.e. disposita, laid out with them.
48 HOC AGIMUS Cf. 20. Ploughing the sands (cf. 103) is wasted labour; Otto
harena 4, Sen. De Ben. 4.9.2, Ovid Ex Ponto 4.2.16 siccum sterili vomere litus aras,
and (in a similar context) Mart. 1.107.7. For STERILI cf. 203.
502 Juvenal cannot be allowed to say first that (all) those who try to give up
poetry are unable to rescue themselves from its grip, then (an anti-climax) that
many are unable to do so. CONSUETUDO MALI has got into the text from a note
explaining the etymology of (which glosses mali mores vel mala consuetudo (he has confused |[357] and ) scribendi), and then the interpolation has been stretched out to fill a whole line (cf. 15). We should delete LAQUEO
MALI with Housman, since otherwise we have an intolerable mixed metaphor

312A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

(LAQUEO and CACOETHES).

SI DISCEDAS If people try to escape; hence there is no incongruity with MULTOS.
CACOETHES A medical term (like INSANABILE and AEGRO), a malignant
but not incurable growth or ulcer (Celsus 5.28.2, cf. Spencer in the Loeb ed. 3.592;
but, unlike the usual kind, that in Juvenal is incurable); stronger than morbus or
, which are often found in such contexts, stronger still than amor scribendi
Hor. Serm. 2.1.10. Cf. Petron. 42 antiquus amor cancer est.
SENESCIT It becomes chronic, inveterascit.
53 SED resumes the train of thought from 47; so 4852 should go in a parenthesis.
VATEM (89, 93) See on 1.18.
VENA What are the metaphors here and in the following lines? That in 55 is
clearly from coining (the masters of the mint were IIIviri auro argento aeri flando
feriundo), which is more often applied to coinage of words. EXPOSITUM simply
means in medio positum, obvious, trite (Quintil. 10.5.11), and carries no clear picture. VENA seems here to mean primarily a seam of ore (as probably at Hor. AP
409), and DEDUCERE also fits this metaphor; cf. Codex Iustin. 11.10.1 venae nobi
lis et quae facile deducatur ignibus seu liquescat ferri materies praebeatur. Thus
535 hammer home the thought by repetition with a unified picture; first mining,
then smelting, then minting. However there are secondary hints of other common literary metaphors. PUBLICA VENA could also mean a stream of inspiration which is common property, cf. Ovid Ex Ponto 4.13.5, Petron. 3, Callim. Epigr.
28.3 / . DEDUCERE could refer to the drawing off from this
of irrigating channels, and could also be a metaphor from spinning (cf. on 18; but
not the operation of 224) often applied to literary composition, cf. Thes. 282.55,
Riedner 59, Gilbert CQ2 11, 1976, 111.
The attitude expressed in these lines is the Callimachean (cf. on 58) exclusivity,
and TRIVIALE recalls his metaphors from the public road (Aetia fr. 1.278, Epigr.
28; cf. the vilis patulusque orbis of Hor. AP 132). The trivium is where the vulgar
mob meets (6.412), cf. Verg. Buc. 3.27 non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas / stridenti
miserum stipula disperdere carmen?, Calp. Sic. 1.28 non pastor, non haec triviali
more viator canit.
56 HUNC Resuming the subject after a digression; Thes. 2710.66. Cf. Cic. Orator 23 ad eam quam sentiam eloquentiam, non ad eam quam in alio ipse cognove
rim; ibid. 79, 1819. Latin has no word for ideal. |[358]
57 ANXIETATE The cares of poverty. Juvenal has adapted Ovid Trist. 1.1.3948
and 5.12.34, though those passages do not refer to poverty.
IMPATIENS qui non patitur, as Val. Fl. 1.296; it usually means qui pati non
potest.
58 For the retreat of the poet into the woods cf. Hor. Epist. 2.2.77 (cf. on 105)

SATIRE SEVEN313

and elsewhere, Tac. Dial. 9.6 and 12.1 (evidently alluded to by Pliny Ep. 9.10.2).
Drinking the fountains of the Muses is a commonplace since Callimachus (cf. on
55); e.g. Pers. prol. (on 29), Tac. Dial. 13; cf. Wimmel (on 1.19) 226 sqq.
SUB (down in) ANTRO (grotto) PIERIO Cf. 8, Hor. Odes 3.4.40, 2.1.39,
where see NisbetHubbard.
THYRSUM The Bacchic poet, cf. 29, Hor. Odes 2.19.9 (this poem is referred to
in 62) etc.; the poet is cliens Bacchi, Hor. Epist. l.c.
60 Macarius 6.73 (Paroemiogr. 2 p. 197).
62 i.e. at Odes 2.19.5; the well-filled poet after dinner sits down to write a wild
Bacchic ode, whereas actual Bacchantes fasted! For the position of HORATIUS
see on 3.93.
63 QUIS Not qui; cf. 6.571, 15.119.
64 DOMINIS Dative of agent (cf. 6.45, 11.191, 13.124); or perhaps ablative of
instrument (cf. 6.29), Bacchus and Apollo being understood to mean poetic inspiration. Apollo is lord of Cirrha, the port of Delphi (13.79, Mart. 1.76.11); Nysa
was a mythological mountain on which Bacchus was said to have been reared. Cf.
Lucan 1.645.
VESTRA Yours, Telesinus, and that of poets like you; see index pronouns.
DUAS Poetry and poverty; cf. Cic. Phil. 11.23 and for ADMITTENTIA Val. Fl.
2.399.
66 Ovid (?) Her. 15.14 vacuae carmina mentis opus.
LODICE For bed-clothes 6.195; PARANDA on 3.224.
ATTONITAE This word, like VEXANT and CURAS, carries a deliberate ambiguity between worried, distressed (cf. on 8.239 and Sen. Ep. 108.37) and inspired
(cf. Tib. 1.9.47); a similar ambiguity is probably intended in a similar context at
Mart. 8.56.7. Fletcher Latomus 35, 1976, 113 prefers intent upon, but this does not
fit the context so well.
67 CURRUS ET EQUOS Part of the proelia of 27.
68 Aen. 7.445 sqq. (with facies). N. Rudd Lines of Enquiry (1976) 98 points out
that Juvenals mind moved from one Bacchic passage in which Allecto appears
(ibid. 389 euhoe, 390 thyrsos, cf. Juv. 602) to another.
69 PUER Slave, 9.64 (probably not thinking specially of Alexis, |[359] Mart.
8.56.1216), HOSPITIUM lodging (3.166); the sublime poet, who of course was in
fact well housed, is brought into contact with the sordid cares of everyday life, cf.
62, 66, 73, 87.
DESSET, CADERENT, GEMERET Not an instance of the idiom discussed on
4.85. Vergil is spoken of as alive at the moment (cf. 62, 79, 827); instead of saying
that his descriptions would not be so vivid, Juvenal says that the events which he
describes would not be happening, implying that the descriptions are so vivid that
they give an air of actuality.
CRINIBUS Of Allecto (l.c. 447); CADERENT reverses Vergils erexit.

314A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

SURDA Unheard, cf. 13.194; GEMERET cf. 2.90, Laus Pis. 142; BUCINA l.c.
513 sqq.
72 COTHURNO i.e. tragic writers (6.634 sqq., 15.29); a kind of comparatio
compendiaria, cf. 6.176.
73 ALVEOLOS Dishes 5.88; LAENAM 3.283.
PIGNERAT Comically, as if the tragic king were personally pawning; prosaically it means that the writing of tragedy makes Lappa (like Sthenelus, Aristoph.
Wasps 1313) resort to the pawnbroker, cf. 92 and on 16.13.
74 Cf. 184 sqq., Mart. 9.2.1.
NON HABET HABET Note the chiastic order; for NON HABET INFELIX
(ironical; cf. 10.169, Mart. 2.46.9) cf. 3.152, Ovid Met. 3.723.
NUMITOR A dives avarus (30); for the name cf. CIL 13.3183.6.
QUOD MITTAT Cf. 3.45.
QUINTILLAE Probably his amica, balancing AMICO; cf. Mart. 9.2.1.
76 On cf. Ulpian Dig. 21.1.402, SG 2.70 = 2.86, Jennison 132, DS
Bestiae mansuetae 68990, and for lions Toynbee 64.
IAM This would cost more than one straight from the wilds.
77 LEVIORI See on 13.48.
78 NIMIRUM Ironical 2.104, 10.248; CAPIUNT hold 11.171, 195.
79 IACEAT Recline at his ease; cf. Ovid Trist. 1.11.378, Pliny Ep. 5.5.5, 3.7.4.
MARMOREIS Sarcastically, as if statues (cf. 1.12, SG 2.264 = 3.40, Balsdon1
207) covered all the grass in his HORTI (on 1.75). Unlike most poets, Lucan possessed inherited wealth, Tac. Ann. 16.17; cf. Stat. Silv. 2.7 (to L.s wife).85.
80 SERRANO Quintil. 10.1.89, where the mss. read ferrenum or farrenum; a
Serranus in debt, Mart. 4.37.3.
SALEIO Basso (Quintil. ibid. 90); cf. Tacitus quoted on 21. Mart. 5.53 criticises
a poet Bassus.
TENUI 3.163, 8.120. |[360]
81 QUID of what importance?; Nisbets edition of Cic. De Domo p. 200.
ERIT The future though both were now dead (Quintil.); cf. 3.238.
82 Statius mentions his own recitations Silv. 5.2.163 (from the Achilleid), 5.3.215;
the Thebaid was known before publication, 12.812 sqq.
IUCUNDAM Important for a recitation, Pliny Ep. 5.17.3.
AMICAE The first hint of the sexual imagery which follows and which conveys
that Statius has to prostitute his talent.
PROMISITQUE DIEM promittere noctem is characteristic of the whore or
bawd (often in the elegists).
DULCEDINE CAPTOS Cic. De Fin. 5.49, Ovid Met. 1.709, 11.179, all of the
effects of music; here of the vox iucunda of Statius. Tandoi Maia 21, 1969, 103 sees
in the word a criticism of Statius style.
86 FREGIT SUBSELLIA (45) per alios (on 16.13). Perhaps so many crowd

SATIRE SEVEN315

to hear him that their weight breaks down the stand (cf. Suet. Claud. 41.1), but
more likely it is the result of exsultatio (Pers. 1.82), stamping;
Plut. De Recta Rat. Aud. 7.41c, cf. Lucian Rhet. Praec. 21.
87 INTACTAM Previously unperformed (cf. Stat. Silv. 1.2.238, 3.1.67), but also
suggesting virgin (cf. 6.163). Statius is not otherwise known to have written for
the stage, but Lucan did compose fabulae salticae (the Vacca life); cf. Sen. Contr.
2.19 Silonis, qui pantomimis fabulas scripsit, Crinagoras AP 9.542 = GowPage GP
1997.
AGAVEN Pantomimes loved to show their talents in female roles, cf. 92 and
SG 2.106 = 2.133, though there were a few female pantomimae (RE pantomimus
850.60).
PARIDI (RE no. 3) Put to death by Domitian in A.D. 83; cf. 6.87.
VENDIT For the sale of librettos cf. Ovid Trist. 2.5078; but the sale of a slave
prostitute is also suggested.
ESURIT From the sublime of 826 to the ridiculous, with a bump. Though
Statius admits that his familys means were straightened (Silv. 5.3.116 sqq.), it is
doubtful if he himself was ever as poor as this; when he wrote the Silvae (after the
death of Paris) he owned a small praedium Albanum (3.1.61 sqq., 4.5.13 sqq., where
his assertion of its poverty is purely conventional).
88 For the militia equestris see on 1.58; the three usual steps were praefectura
cohortis sociorum, tribunatus legionis, praefectura alae. A six-month service in the
second rank (Pliny Ep. 4.4.2) conferred equestrian status; cf. CIL 6.2131 = ILS 4929
(A.D. 240) Campiae Severinae virgini Vestali maximae pro conlatis in se beneficiis equestr. ord. item secundae militiae Aemilius Pardalus trib(unatu) coh. I Aquitanicae petitu eius ornatus. Likewise Paris uses his influence at court to secure
these |[361] appointments. Of course poets would not wish to enter on an official
career, but would have sinecure appointments (supra numerum Suet. Claud. 25).
Martial became an eques by holding such a tribunate (3.95.910).
LARGITUS Cf. Tac. Hist. 4.39.4.
AURUM (cf. 1.28) SEMENSTRE The equestrian gold ring (on 11.43, 129) gained
by six months service; DE legio 578b579.
VATUM (cf. 53) See on 1.18; here the elevated word hints that they are debased
by this patronage.
90 HISTRIO i.e. pntmmus, cf. Suet. Dom. 3.1, Sidonius quoted p. 5, and
commonly.
CAMERINOS (8.38) The plural suggests that he may be thinking of the consuls
of A.D. 9 and 46; for BAREAM see on 3.116.
MAGNA ATRIA Haunting these was a common fate (Mart. 3.38.11).
CURAS For the application of this word to clients cf. White JRS 68, 1978, 81.
92 PRAEFECTOS TRIBUNOS On 88.
PELOPEA The daughter of Thyestes, from whose incest sprang Aegisthus (Lu-

316A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

cian De Salt. 43). This and PHILOMELA (cf. Tereus 12 and Apul. Apol. 78) are
the titles of librettos, like Agave. The form of expression has the same point as 73.
93 was deleted by Markland, probably rightly. Juvenal uses haud only with
adjectives and adverbs (at 6.O.20 it goes with semper), and here it appears to convey a prohibition, which is solecistic (BICS 22, 1975, 158). Moreover the line is
quite useless and the connexion of thought is much better without it; then tibi
94 and the names of the patrons of old take up tu 90 and the names of modern
non-patrons. The remark that poets like Statius who are forced to make a living
by writing librettos even so only make a poor living is both misplaced and vaguely
expressed. The composer of the line took VATI from 89, and PASCUNT was suggested to him by esurit 87.
The consequence of this analysis is that though 8892 are not fully relevant (cf.
p. 7), yet they are integral to the passage, not a mere parenthesis.
94 Cf. 5.108 sqq. C. PROCULEIUS is the generous man of Hor. Odes 2.2.5 and
Rutil. Lup. 1.5; Paulus FABIUS (RE no. 102, PIR2 F 47) Maximus is the patron of
Ovid; M. Aurelius (RE no. 111, PIR2 A 1488) COTTA Maximus (later Cotta Messalinus), a son of M. Valerius Messala adopted into the gens Aurelia, was also a
patron of Ovid, cf. 5.109. For such complaints of the decay of patronage cf. Mart.
1.107.34 (cf. on 49), 8.56.5.
ITERUM ALTER Cic. Phil. 13.1 sive iterum Sulla sive alter Marius.
96 UTILE MULTIS Ovid AA 1.159. |[362]
PALLERE Pers. prol. (on 29) 4 pallidam (making pale) Pirenen, Pliny NH
20.160, Quintil. 1.2.18, 7.10.14 etc., SG 3.50 = 2.236; because of the Pieria umbra 8,
a touch of humour.
TOTO DECEMBRI Even during the Saturnalia; cf. Hor. Serm. 2.3.4 sqq., Stat.
Silv. 1.6.5.
98104 Historians are given little space because Juvenals case is weak here;
they must be included to represent prose writers, since history was at this time the
most prominent branch of prose, but they were usually aristocratic, retired politicians and the like, not poor men in need of patronage (Livy is the most striking
exception). Cf. Suet. De Gramm. 27 L. Voltacilius Pilutus primus omnium libertinorum scribere historiam orsus, nonnisi ab honestissimo quoque scribi solitam
ad id tempus.
FECUNDIOR See on 103.
HISTORIARUM PLUS The imposing, though sarcastic, weight of one lineend is followed by the miserable outcome of the other.
OLEI Lamp-oil for lucubratio (cf. on 27). We have here the passive (on 4.56) of
perdere oleum, to waste lamp-oil; Cic. Ad Att. 2.17.1 ne et opera et oleum philologiae nostrae perierit, Pliny Ep. 7.2.1 aliquid perituri temporis, Otto oleum 3, Gurlitt
Berl. Phil. Woch. 21, 1901, 731, Wlfflin 268.
100 NULLO MODO with no limits in sight; misunderstanding as if it meant

SATIRE SEVEN317

by no means caused interpolation in .

MILLENSIMA PAGINA Each volumen would hold at most 200 paginae (columns); of course many histories would be longer than 510 volumina. In the format of Pap. Ox. 884 Sall. Cat. would cover about 100 columns. Cf. Marquardt
81213, N. Lewis LIndustrie du Papyrus (1934) 56 and 74 = Papyrus in Classical
Antiquity (1974) 546 and 7983.
SURGIT Ovid Am. 1.1.17 cum bene surrexit versu nova pagina primo. CRESCIT
Ovid Trist. 4.9.34 inque libellis / crevisset sine te pagina nulla meis, Mart. 5.6.15
nigris pagina crevit umbilicis.
101 The expense is due entirely to quantity (Mart. 13.1.3 perdite Niliacas, Musae,
mea damna, papyros); unit-costs of papyrus were not high (Marquardt 822, Lewis
ll.cc. 152 = 129, T. Birt Antike Buchwesen (1882) 83, Skeat JRS 24, 1934, 656).
102 RERUM History being res gestae, the historian rerum scriptor (cf. Livy pr.
1, Tac. Hist. 1.1).
LEX See on 6.635; but it is hard to see what point the plural OPERUM has, and
perhaps it is due to RERUM; Hor. AP 135 has operis, and this reading is quoted
here by Valla (perhaps inadvertently; it was explicitly conjectured by Lubinus).
103 SEGES Cf. fecundior 98, fructus here, messem 112; APERTAE |[363]
ploughed, cf. 48. The agricultural metaphor also embraces labor 98 and merces
(cf. 8.246) 112.
104 DARET The tense and mood indicate that LEGENTI too is hypothetical,
equivalent to si quis legeret; the philistine would prefer to listen to a recitation of
the gazette (on 2.136) rather than a recitation of a history.
105 GENUS IGNAVUM This probably includes poets (Ovid Am. 1.15.1) as well
as historians (Sall. Iug. 4.3).
LECTO (a couch for studying) ET UMBRA Ovid Am. 1.9.42, AA 3.542; cf. Juv.
8 and 173, Hor. Epist. 2.2.778 (see on 58).
106 CAUSIDICIS Since according to old Roman custom a mans legal interests would be looked after by his patronus, this class of professional speakers is not
referred to and probably did not exist before Ciceronian times (De Or. 1.202, Orator 30; Lucr. 4.966); the word tends to imply a sneer (on 10.121) because it suggests
taking money for what ought to be an officium (see below).
CIVILIA OFFICIA Practice at the bar; so first Sen. Contr. 2 pr. 3 and often e.g.
in Quintilian and the younger Pliny. CIVILIA implies usefulness to society and
thus hints a contrast with IGNAVUM. Cf. Pliny Ep. 6.32.1 Nonio Celeri, cui ratio
civilium officiorum necessitatem quandam nitoris imponit and with this Juv. 1245.
LIBELLI Briefs; cf. on 6.244 and Mart. 5.51.1; T. Birt Die Buchrolle i.d. Kunst
(1907) 256 gives illustrations of fasces of libelli.
QUID PRAESTENT Because advocacy had been part of clientela, in theory
at any rate remuneration was forbidden (Gelzer 634) until Claudius (Tac. Ann.
11.57), who established a limit of 10,000 sesterces (cf. Ulpian Dig. 50.13.1.12); this

318A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

was re-enacted under Nero (Tac. 13.42.1), who was also responsible for more legislation (Tac. 13.5.1; Suet. 17), which evidently prohibited payment in advance (Pliny
Ep. 5.9 and 13). Quintil. 12.7.812 thinks that even fees should not be regarded in a
commercial light. Of course fees were more needed by the poorer lawyers (Quintil. l.c., Tac. 11.7.3); Pliny never took any (but the Aemilius of 124 did). See SG 1.163
= 1.184, Parks 56, Marquardt 770, RE honorarium 2274.
108 MAGNA SONANT Cf. 6.517, Hor. Serm. 1.4.44, 1.6.43.
TETIGIT i.e. fodicavit. When a creditor of their own is listening or when they
are approached by a litigant seeking repayment from someone else; the latter is
ACRIOR, i.e. he inspires yet more keenness in the causidicus than his own creditor, and is more likely to be impressed by the bragging of the causidicus into
giving him the brief.
CODEX The money-lenders account-book (Thes. 1406.53, RSV 2.678), the
size of which (GRANDI) suggests his wealth; NOMEN an |[364] entry in this (cf.
Cic. Pro Q. Rosc. 45 etc.) under the debtors name; DUBIUM of doubtful credit,
the opposite of certum (Cic. Pro Quinct. 38).
111 FOLLES Bellows, metaphorically; cf. Plaut. Bacch. fr. 8, Otto Nachtrge 28.
The lines are sibilant to suit his spluttering haste.
112 CONSPUITUR SINUS This perhaps merely indicate their eagerness to
babble out their words, but more probably refers to a familiar charm to placate
Nemesis for their boasting; cf. Otto sinus 3, Gruppe 890, Goodyear Proc. Afr. Class.
Ass. 14, 1978, 55 on Petron. 74.13, Gow on Theocr. 6.39 (add now Menander Samia
503), R. Muth Trger der Lebenskraft (1954) 42 sqq. (esp. 46) and 167, and on spittle in general RE Aberglaube 878, ERE s.v. saliva. For Nemesis herself perhaps
portrayed as performing the act see RE (2375.20) and ML (figs. 5 and 7) Nemesis.
MESSEM See on 103.
113 PATRIMONIA Property in general, not inherited; cf. 14.116 (10.13, 12.50)
and for the usage of the lawyers RE suppl. 10.4934.
ALIA i.e. ltr; cf. 6.436.
RUSSATI Belonging to the red factio (on 11.198) in the circus.
LACERTAE A charioteer C. Annius Lacerta is known (CIL 15.6250 = ILS
5293). For the size of prizes cf. SG 2.224 = 2.269, RE suppl. 7.1637, DE agitator
3623 and add Mart. 4.67.
115 CONSEDERE DUCES This parodies the opening of the Armorum Iudicium, Ovid Met. 13.1 c.d. et surgit Aiax; consedere as iudices, cf. Ovid 12.622
and Thes. s.v. 433.81. BUBULCO IUDICE would then be collective; for such complaints about the low intelligence of iudices cf. Cic. Ad Att. 6.1.15 Turpio sutorius
et Vettius manceps, Sen. Ep. 40.8 and often Quintil. (e.g. 4.2.45 cum iudicem
rura plerumque in decurias mittant, 11.1.45 cum etiam singulis iudicantibus non
idem apud eruditum quod militarem (cf. Juv. 16.13) ac rusticum deceat, 12.10.53
cum vero iudex detur aut populus aut ex populo laturique sententiam indocti

SATIRE SEVEN319

saepius atque interim rustici). It will be noticed that these criticisms apply both
to members of the jury-panels, decuriae, who had to be Roman citizens with a
property-qualification of at least 200,000 sesterces, and to the unus iudex chosen
by mutual agreement of the two parties, who was not subject to either restriction.
Here Juvenal has in mind the former; money of course brings neither culture nor
intelligence. The case in question is a causa liberalis or vindicatio (adsertio) in
libertatem, and though some legal sources suggest the possibility of a trial by unus
iudex, this was certainly not the usual method (G. Franciosi Il Processo di Libert
(1961) 106 and in Labeo 9, 1963, 192, Kaser ZRG 79, 1962, 394, Buckland 654). Kelly
54 thinks that the reference is to a judge trying the case by cognitio, but this method of trying causae liberales cannot be demonstrated to have started before |[365]
Antoninus Pius, and it appears to have begun with consuls, for whom BUBULCO
seems too uncomplimentary; see Kaser2 359.
PALLIDUS reinforces the parody of Ovid; one can hardly imagine Ajax affected by the nervousness of the declaimer (Quintil. 6.2.36). BUBULCO also brings
the sublime down to the level of the ridiculous.
117 Cic. Ad Fam. 7.1.4 dirupi me paene in iudicio Galli Canini. The IECUR is the
seat of the passions (1.45). UT cf. 29.
118 For the fixing of palms to the front door as a sign of forensic victory cf.
Mart. 7.28.6, Laus Pis. 2731, Lucian Rhet. Praec. 25; but this advocate in spite of
his success is poor and lives in a garret approached by stairs (cf. 3.200, 10.18). This
witty point is misunderstood by the scholiast (see Wessner), followed by Puccioni
Riv. Fil. 95, 1967, 180.
119 Cf. Mart. 4.46, 12.72, Pers. 3.73 sqq.; these would be birthday or Saturnalia
presents (Mart. 10.87).
PETASUNCULUS Diminutive of petaso, a leg of pork.
SICCUS Cf. 11.82, Mart. 13.55.
PELAMYDUM Small tunny fish (Blmner1 185, Marquardt 437).
BULBI Some member of the onion family (RE 3.669), also mentioned
by Mart. 4.46; Pliny NH 19.97 vetustiores improbant.
EPIMENIA rations, a military term, Latin menstrua; the word is found in
Polybius, papyri (PreisigkeKiessling s.v.), Epictetus 2.7.8 (LSJ II 2). For monthly
issue of rations cf. Plaut. Stich. 60, Gow on Theocr. 16.35.
MAURORUM Of African slaves (5.53); they would be used to them, as bulbi
were much grown in Africa (Pliny NH 19.95, Ovid RA 797, Athen. 2.64b, Edict.
Diocl. 6.41).
121 The best wine, that from Greece and Campania, was imported up the Tiber
(subvectum cf. 5.89); only vile Sabinum and poor Etruscan wine came downstream
(Marquardt 452, Blmner1 200).
QUINQUE LAGONAE For the apposition cf. Plaut. Pseud. 12223, HS 44 and
57, KS 1.2501, Svennung 198, C. Otto De Epexegeseos Usu (1912) 7, Krebs

320A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Schmalz 2.823 s.v. mille. The quantity does not compensate for the lack of quality.
122 SI QUATER EGISTI If the case has run to four actiones; cf. 1434 agebat.
AUREUS UNUS 25 denarii, 100 sesterces.
123 CADUNT They are deducted; PRAGMATICORUM depends on PARTES,
cf. SG 1.163 = 1.1845. The causidici would often know little law and would depend
on those who gave themselves the Greek name of pragmatici to supply this; cf.
Quintil. 12.3.24, RE suppl. 10.639, SG 1.166 = 1.189, Schulz 108, W. Kunkel Herkunft der Rm. Juristen2 (1967) 32730. |[366]
124 For the abrupt intervention of an interlocutor cf. on 3.187. Aemilius, who
being a noble can make a display, receives the full fee permitted by the law (on 106,
and cf. licita quantitas in Ulpian there adduced).
ET and yet; Thes. 893.4, Khner on Cic. Tusc. 1.6 and above on 1.93.
HUIUS depends on VESTIBULIS (on 1.132); for statues there cf. Wistrand Eranos 68, 1970, 2045, Marquardt 225. He has a triumphal statue of an ancestor (cf.
8.3, 143) and an equestrian one of himself presented by a grateful client (cf. 13.119,
Mart. 9.68.6, Tac. Dial. 8.4, 11.3).
BELLATOR (cf. Thes. s.v. 1807.13) equus is a regular poetic combination, also
in Tac. Germ. 14.2. Sil. It. 3.295 uses venator of a hunting dog.
CURVATUM LUSCA Although he has a statue, it is not well maintained
or of good quality (cf. 8.45); the sculptor has provided no support for the heavy
spear-head, which has dragged down the shaft into a curve, and one of the coloured stones regularly used to represent eye-balls has fallen out (cf. CIL 6.9403
= ILS 7713 M. Rapilius Serapio oculos reposuit statuis; Marquardt 688, SG 2.317 =
3.100). Griffith3 382 thinks that HASTILE means bow-shaft, as at Amm. Marc.
22.8.37, but Aemilius is not likely to have been represented as an archer.
MEDITATUR PROELIA 4.112.
129 SIC By imitating the display of the rich and noble; cf. Pliny quoted on 106.
CONTURBAT sc. rationes, cf. 14.94; DEFICIT fails (so Pomponius Dig.
35.2.31, Callistratus ibid. 49.14.3.8).
MATHO 1.32, 11.34; cf. introduction.
TONGILII For the name cf. Schulze LEG 455; here from Mart. 2.40.7.
EXITUS HIC EST Cf. 11.39, Tac. Dial. 9.3, CIL 6.9693 = CEL 1136.5.
RHINOCEROTE An oil-flask made from (real or imitated) rhinoceros-horn,
cf. Mart. 14.523; for the synecdoche cf. 12.4 vellus.
VEXAT Cf. 1.100 and premit 1.46; Plut. Praec. Reip. Ger. 31.8
(at the baths), Lucian Nigrin. 13, 34.
LUTULENTA Cf. 3.247; his clients are covered with mud from attending him
all day.
132 ASSERE Collective singular, the poles of the litter (so probably 3.245);
LONGO of a hexaphoros or octophoros.
MAEDOS From Thrace; CIL 6.6310 a Medus lecticarius (cf. Matescu Ephem.

SATIRE SEVEN321

Dacorom. 1, 1923, 215). |[367]

133 ARGENTUM Silver plate cf. 1.76; MURRINA cf. 6.156; VILLAS cf. 10.225.
134 SPONDET Secures credit for him; cf. Lucian Rhet. Praec. 1516. The sequence of thought around here is rather abrupt (though not abrupt enough to
compel the deletion of 135); it would run more smoothly if 134 were placed after
137.
STLATTARIA A stlatta is a kind of boat (for an ancient illustration see Casson1 pl. 137 after Gauckler Fondation E. Piot, Monuments 12, 1905, 140) which Caper GLK 7.107.1 and glosses (cf. CGL 7.196b) say was associated with pirates; this
adjective (conjectured by Haupt at Quintil. 8.2.13 but nowadays removed from
Petron. 108.12) is illustrated by Probus from Enn. Ann. 469 et melior navis quam
quae stlattaria portat; Probus glosses illecebrosa, probably merely because of a
false derivation, implicitly rejected by Caper, of stlactarius from lacto, lacio, illicio
(this was pointed out to me by Prof. O. Skutsch). Ennius suggests that we should
understand imported rather than deceptive (sailing under false colours); Griffith3 382 understands bought from the proceeds of the piraticus mos (Quintil.
12.7.11) of bargaining for fees, which seems far-fetched. Of course if we had the
context of Ennius we might find a sense property stolen by pirates or the like.
PURPURA On 1.27. Note the chiastic order in PURPURA AMETHYSTINA.
136 AMETHYSTINA (sc. vestimenta) A highly-valued shade of purple (Pliny
NH 9.135, 21.45, Citroni on Mart. 1.96.7). Cf. Mart. 2.57 amethystinatus media qui
secat Saepta, / quem grex togatus sequitur et capillatus / recensque sella (he has
however just pawned his ring, cf. 140).
138 Cf. 3.165, 182 and Seneca there referred to.
139 The mss. show a striking variant; Mart. 11.5.5 has si redeant veteres patres
in a passage showing no other resemblance, but there the idea is better motivated
than here, where it looks like a pedantic explanation of NUNC. Moreover ELOQUIO appropriately contrasts with the empty display of the preceding lines, and
Juvenals mss. show some striking interpolations from Martial (e.g. in 8 above).
On the other hand it must be admitted that ut supposing that is a refined idiom,
and the possibility of an author-variant for once cannot be entirely excluded.
DUCENTOS NUMMOS (cf. 11.19) 200 sesterces, a trivial sum contrasted with
Mart. 8.16.2 causas nunc agis et ducena quaeris.
DEDERIT On 2.24. For the context generally cf. 3.1434.
With this display of ring and escort cf. Galen 14.600 K; SERVI OCTO enough
for a lectica octophoros; COMITES cf. on 1.46; POST TE SELLA cf. Mart. quoted
on 136. |[368]
TOGATI ANTE PEDES Cf. on 1.96 and Mart. 2.74.1 cinctum togatis post et
ante Saufeium (but he owes all this to money-lenders), Tac. Dial. 6; Mart. 9.100.3
praecedere sellam, as an anteambulo.

322A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

CONDUCTA Cf. 3.652 (also with sella and comites).

SARDONYCHE On 6.382; AGEBAT AGEBAT cf. 5.1478.
145 Not Juvenals opinion (cf. 8.47), but that of the people in general (cf. on
15.47); cf. Petron. 83.10 sola pruinosis horret facundia (i.e. poets) pannis.
146 One of the devices frequent in the ancient world to sway the jurys emotions; cf. 15.135 sqq., Quintil. 6.1.30, Cato Orig. fr. 107 Peter, Cic. Pro Font. 467,
Pro Cael. 4, 2 Verr. 1.93; Volkmann 282. PRODUCERE is the technical term (Bonnell Lex. Quintil. s.v. I, e.g. 11.3.174).
147 ACCIPIAT TE GALLIA Because of the expense of Rome 138.
GALLIA Cf. 214, on 15.111 and the contest in oratory referred to 1.44. For native
Celtic aptitude for oratory cf. Cato Orig. fr. 34 Peter, Strabo 4.4.2.195, 4.1.5.181, N.
Chadwick The Celts (1970) 45; for Gallic orators M. L. Clarke Rhetoric at Rome (1953)
1456, Jullian (on 9.30) 6.140, Duval (ibid.) 203 and 353, Bonner 157, V. M. O. Denk
Gesch. des Gallo-Frankischen Unterrichts- und Bildungswesens (1892) 82, T. J. Haarhoff Schools of Gaul2 (1958) 346. If nostris in Tac. Dial. 10.2 is correctly interpreted,
only one speaker (Vipstanius Messala) in that work does not come from Gaul.
AFRICA Soon after this that province began to produce distinguished writers
(Fronto and Apuleius; note also the Florus who wrote the dialogue Vergilius orator an poeta). For oratory there cf. Clarke l.c. Juvenal is probably alluding to the
description of the province as nutrix ferarum (Vitruv. 8.2.24).
PONERE This seems unobjectionable; Hor. Serm. 2.3.23 huic signo ponebam
milia centum. There is a similar variant at Quintil. 12.7.11 imponentium (so B; ponb) periculis pretia. Gnilka Symb. Osl. 44, 1969, 102 thinks that LINGUAE should
be emphasised in contrast to the impensa of Rome (138); but this is far-fetched and
would require LINGUAE to be genitive, which is not plausible.
150 sqq. The rhetor, introduced with a question like the historian 98. He would
take over his pupils from the grammaticus in their mid teens.
FERREA Cf. 1.31.
CLASSIS For this term cf. Quintil. 1.2.23, 10.5.21 (where he remarks on their
size; see Clarke Higher Education 33).
NUMEROSA large cf. 10.105. Wiesen CQ2 21, 1971, 506 understands it to mean
sing-song, and takes CANTABIT also to refer to a style of delivery often criticised (Thes. s.v. 288.50, 289.68); but the |[369] point in this passage is monotony, hammered home by the polyptoton of idem. Therefore EADEM CANTABIT
should be understood as Ter. Phorm. 495 cantilenam eandem canis. Quintil. 8.3.76
his quae ubique cantari solebant, Plaut. Trin. 289, Ter. Haut. 260 and often
decanto; cf. LSJ II.
PERIMIT TYRANNOS i.e. describes the death (on 1.162) of tyrants; the tyrannicide is a stock figure of declamations (cf. on 10.113 and Four introduction;
Gudeman on Tac. Dial. 35 p. 463, Winterbottom index to Sen. Contr. p. 641). This
topic is a fossil; the famous tyrants of Greece left a permanent imprint on history,

SATIRE SEVEN323

and at Athens especially the memory of the tyrannicides was fostered.

152 At first sight it looks as if the subject of this sentence is classis; one could
then adopt Wiesens interpretation of numerosa and infer that the same stuff was
recited twice (by each individual pupil). But the insistence on monotony and the
teachers boredom is much more pointed if Juvenal has in mind not two repetitions of the identical composition but infinite repetitions of essentially the same
points in superficially different garb. It is therefore more likely that the participles
are masculine and the reference is to repetition of the same material by all members of the numerous class; therefore SEDENS and STANS (cf. stabant 225) will
refer to different pupils, and the assumption will be that less advanced students
read their speeches without standing; others, more experienced, stand up to declaim (Duff). Our knowledge of Roman school-routine is defective (cf. Clarke CP
63, 1968, 295); advanced schoolboys stood to read from classic speeches (Quintil.
1.11.14). Note Pollux 8 pr. , ,
.
LEGERAT For the pluperfect cf. on 9.96.
PERFERET will rehearse cf. 6.392.
VERSIBUS , lines of prose as well as of verse; Gell. 9.15.10.
154 REPETITA Re-hashed; Suidas 2 p. 119 no. 1272, cf.
Antipater in the letters of Basil 187 in reply to Basils allusion in 186. Quintil. 2.4.28
repetition of the same points causes fastidium velut frigidi et repositi cibi.
155 COLOR 6.280.
CAUSAE GENUS A technical phrase of several applications; cf. Volkmann 108
sqq., Lausberg p. 658a. Quintil. 3.9.6 intueri oportet quod sit causae genus, quid in
ea quaeratur; with SUMMA QUAESTIO cf. ibid. 3.11.2.
156 refers to occupatio, the refutation in advance of arguments likely to be used
by the other side. The point of forte (see the apparatus) would be that the opponents points can only be guessed beforehand; but, as Housman says, the word is
rare in a question after |[370] Lucretius. PARTE could be an interpolation from
13.136 (q.v.), but is more likely to be right. In that case diversae will be due to
elimination of the noun with which DIVERSA agrees, and one should not compromise with diversa e. For diversa pars cf. Quimtil. 3.11.23 and diversa subsellia
ibid. 11.3.122; Thes. 5.1.1576.80 (add Suet. De Gramm. 9).
SAGITTAE develops the metaphor of pugna 173; cf. hastae Cic. Part. Or. 14,
adversa tela Stat. Silv. 5.2.105 and on 6.449.
157 Ovid Fasti 3.829 vos, turba fere censu fraudata, magistri (i.e. grammatici);
cf. 228 and Palladas referred to on 219. Orbilius (Suet. De Gramm. 9) wrote a book
(?) de iniuriis quas professores neglegentia aut ambitione parentum acciperent.
APPELLAS dun for, cf. 9.64; usually with a personal object, though cf. Sen.
Dial. 9.11.3.

324A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

SCIO The pupil himself answers; cf. Libanius Or. 43.6 and the story recounted
of Protagoras (Gell. 5.10 etc.; see Hosius ad loc.) or Corax (SchmidSthlin 1.3.28
n. 1 and 91 n. 6; H. Rabe Prolegomenon Sylloge (1935) x; L. Radermacher Artium
Scriptores (1951) p. 29) and his pupil.
ENIM You cannot seriously dun for your fee, since I know nothing. However
in this combination ENIM seems sometimes merely to give a surprised emphasis
to the interrogative, cf. Ovid Met. 3.262 and Shackleton Bailey on Cic. Ad Att.
12.21.1 (perhaps 3.208 above).
CULPA DOCENTIS Cf. Quintil. 2.10.3, Libanius Or. 62.32; now the rhetor
(mihi 160) speaks.
159 LAEVAE Cf. Sil. It. 10.231 laevae vitalia mammae; Pers. 2.53 pectore laevo
cor, the heart being, as often (on 14.57), considered the seat of intelligence. The
circum praecordia sanguis is so frigidus that the actual physical heart-beat (cf. Sen.
Thy. 756) has stopped.
ARCADICO Rustic; often used in Greek with this implication.
SEXTA QUAQUE DIE certi dies were set aside for formal declamation which
parents (cf. 166 and Pers. 3.47) could attend, Quintil. 2.7.1, 10.5.21. This line is often
taken (e.g. by Balsdon1 624) as evidence for a seven-day week, as if it meant every
sixth day out of groups of seven; but in spite of Beaujeu REL 53, 1975, 334 n. 1 (add
SHA 6.6.3 and see Chastagnol Historia-Augusta Colloquium 19756 (Antiquitas
Reihe 4, Band 13, ed. A. Alfldi, 1978) 133) it does not seem demonstrated that it
could mean this, and rhetorical schools went on every day without any kind of
week-end or holiday on nundinae (Suet. De Gramm. 4 and 7). Of course it may
mean every fifth day (cf. Beaujeu 337, 353).
HANNIBAL A favourite figure of the schools (10.167) for a suasoria. |[371]
DIRUS Hannibals traditional epithet (Hor. Odes 2.12.2, 3.6.36, 4.4.42; cf. Quintil. 8.2.9); but he is particularly dirus to the rhetor.
CAPUT IMPLET As if he were a poisonous vapour; a technical medical term
(Pliny NH 21.146 and several times Cael. Aurel.).
162 QUICQUID ID EST Ovid Ex Ponto 3.3.73 etc.
DELIBERAT AN A set phrase to announce the theme of a suasoria, e.g. Ad
Herenn. 3.2.2 and at the headings of Senecas Suasoriae.
URBEM would be best printed with a capital. See Livy 22.51.
POST NIMBOS COHORTES 6.291, Livy 26.11. Cf. Julius Victor RLM 381.29.
MADIDAS A Dripping in consequence of, cf. 197.
CIRCUMAGAT Turn around, cf. Sil. It. 12.665.
165 QUID DO? I would pay anything; probably the indicative is used deliberatively (on 4.130). Cf. Sen. Ep. 79.5 quid tibi do ne Aetnam describas?; Sen. Contr.
9.3.11 and 12.
167 A is a virtuoso rhetor with a big public reputation, G. W. Bowersock Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire (1969) 1214, cf. Plut. De San. Tuend.

SATIRE SEVEN325

16.131a, Edict. Diocl. 7.71 oratori sive sofistae. Antisophistes is also found. [Addendum, originally on p. 380: See C. P. Jones, The Roman World of Dio Chrysostom
(1978) 9.]
168 RAPTORE A figure of the controversiae (cf. Ritters index to [Quintil.]
Decl. Min. s.v.), like those of 16970.
VERAS Cf. Quintil. 2.10.45, 2.20.4, 10.5.14; von Martitz Glotta 46, 1968, 282.
In fact quite a few rhetores were also advocates (cf. Mart. 2.64.1), e.g. Quintilian.
169 FUSA VENENA Cf. Parks 8990, Bonner 310; MALUS INGRATUSQUE
MARITUS e.g. Sen. Contr. 2.5 (see Winterbottoms note 1.316 n. 2 for the importance of ingratum in the declamations), 9.1. Juvenal is perhaps thinking of a
connected story in 16970; marito caeca uxor venenum dedit, ille recepit oculos;
uxorem dimisit, ingrati reus est.
VETERES CAECOS Cf. 9.16, SHA 1.25.3.
171 DABIT RUDEM Like a retired gladiator; cf. on 6.113 and Otto rudis.
VITAE ITER Cf. 10.3634.
173 PUGNA Cf. 16.47; a continual metaphor (Bonnell Lex. Quintil. s.v. II;
Tac. Dial. 34.2, 37.8; Cic. De Or. 1.157 and Stat. Silv. 5.2.1039 contrasted with umbra). Cf. Fortunat. 1.28 (p. 101.35 RLM) ad pugnam descendemus; this use of
DESCENDERE (Thes. 644.68) is in origin due to the low-lying situation of the
Forum. Here the metaphor is probably gladiatorial (cf. harena Pliny Ep. 6.12.2);
and gladiatorial shows were often given in the Forum.
RHETORICA UMBRA is an equally common metaphor, contrasted with lux
forensis, cf. 105; but the metaphor is based on the reality that courts might be open
to the weather (Quintil. 11.3.27, Sen. Contr. 3. pr. 13, Balsdon1 136). |[372]
174 TESSERA frumentaria, the ticket (RE s.v. 852, Hands 106, D. van Berchem
Les Distributions de Bl (1939) 85) given to citizens on the roll of those entitled to
the grain-distribution (cf. panis 10.81, which however may simply refer to fear of
famine); these tickets could be bequeathed by will, transferred, or sold (van Berchem 49; Rea Oxyr. Pap. 40 (1972) 913, Nicolet in Ml. J. Heurgon (1976) 698),
since the number of recipients was limited (van Berchem 2131, Rea 89). The
rhetor needs his fee in order to be able to buy one (PEREAT it may be lost, passive of perdo cf. 222); he cannot look for any greater fee.
VILIS might be genitive and mean of poor quality, cf. scabiosum tesserula far
/ possidet Pers. 5.74; but the diminutive SUMMULA suggests that it is more likely
to be nominative meaning cheap.
175 TEMPTA SCINDES A paratactic condition.
CHRYSOGONUS A singer (6.74), POLLIO a citharode (6.387); for the contrast between their fees (on which cf. SG 2.354 = 2.181) and a rhetoricians cf. Mart.
5.56, and for music teaching Bonner 44.
QUANTI DOCEAT Plato Apol. 20b.
ARTEM , the text-book, cf. 6.452.

326A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

THEODORI of Gadara, a famous rhetor who was the teacher of Tiberius and
founded the school of the Theodorei (cf. Quintil. 3.1.18, who often quotes theoretical points made by him). Suidas 2 p. 696 no. 151 does not list a among his
writings; Juvenal probably names him as a famous rhetor who might well have
written a textbook without bothering whether he actually had done so. There was
also a Theodorus of Byzantium who lived in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. (RE
no. 38; Quintil. 3.1.11) and evidently did write one (Radermacher (on 157) 1067);
but it would have been obsolete by now.
SCINDES Cf. Mart. cited on 27.
178 SESCENTIS (sc. constant) 6oo,ooo sesterces; that projected by Fronto, a
senator of moderate means, would have cost 350,000 (Gell. 19.10.14). These baths
of course were in private houses, cf. 6.419.
PORTICUS Cf. 4.5, Mart. 1.12 and 82 (both with gestari; cf. Pliny Ep. 9.36.5 equo
gestor), SHA 26.49.2.
SPARGATQUE If he dispenses with an arcade, he will have to wait until the
rain stops, and even then the ground will be muddy. Arcades must be kept free of
mud, 14.66.
181 HIC (sc. in porticu) POTIUS sc. gestetur; but Heinrich may be right to
delete the line as an attempt to supply an answer to the question of 180, cf. on
12.501.
MULAE A favourite animal for light carriages; 4.5, 8.147, Mart. 3.62.56, RE
Esel 660.50. Cf. Mart. 9.22.13 lutulenta mula. |[373]
182 Numidian marble is now known as giallo antico, and was widely used (cf.
Sen. Ep. 115.9, Blmner2 3.54, Ward-Perkins JRS 41, 1951, 96). FULTA COLUMNIS
Prop. 3.2.11; cf. 14.307.
183 The placing of the dining-room to catch the winter sunlight was attended
to with great care by architects, cf. Pliny Ep. 5.6.15, 28, 31, Blmner1 45, Marquardt
249, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 2.15.16 (Juvenals RAPIAT dramatises the
technical term excipere).
184 sqq. Cf. 74 and Crates ap. Diog. Laert. 6.86.
QUANTICUMQUE Cf. 178.
VENIET VENIET Because they would be hired for special occasions; we
should probably not compare 29.
QUI FERCULA COMPONIT A structor, cf. on 5.120, Plaut. Men. 1013, Marquardt 3201. QUI PULMENTARIA (i.e. , anything eaten with bread) CONDIT (from condio) a cocus. For the indicatives cf. 219 and 9.146.
186 QUINTILIANO (cf. 6.75 and 280) Named as the type of rhetor. The weakness of Juvenals method of argument is very apparent here. He is insisting on
the poverty of rhetores, and inevitably mentions the most famous of them. The
trouble is that he was a rich man from his professorial appointment and practice
at the bar (the Quintilian of Pliny Ep. 6.32 is a different person), and Juvenal has

SATIRE SEVEN327

to answer this objection which could be raised against his argument. His answer
is feeble; pass over (3.114) this case, Quintilians prosperity is a novum (novel) fatum and he is felix because of his lucky destiny (a remark perhaps revealing some
jealousy of one who has succeeded, as it implies that his prosperity is not due to
his own merits; fato Metelli Romae fiunt consules has been compared!). But at least
this answer does not actually subvert the point which Juvenal is trying to establish.
He is attacking the divites avari (30) for failing to patronise the arts; but even if
destiny is responsible for prosperity and failure, that does not absolve them (see
Manil. 4.108 sqq.).
UT MULTUM and a great deal too; Mart. 10.11.6, SHA 26.46.4
SUFFICIENT For the future see on 3.239.
SESTERTIA DUO This is four or five times as much as the grammaticus gets
(243; cf. on 217). It is rash to draw precise historical inferences from this about
Quintilian himself, as many have done; namely that he received fees from his pupils as well as his professorial salary of 100,000 sesterces (Suet. Vesp. 18), and that
this was his scale of fees (presumably for a whole course). His name here serves
partly as that of a type.
RES FILIUS (i.e. his sons education) Cf. Pliny Ep. 4.13.5, [Plut.] De Lib.
Educ. 7.4f. |[374]
SALTUS Grazing land; cf. White BICS 14, 1967, 74, Blmner1 541 n. 8.
190 The happy man ( , cf. 202; one born under a lucky star 194 sqq.),
such as Quintilian, is the subject, the other adjectives predicates. The Stoic sapiens
has all desirable qualities (Hor. Epist. 1.1.106 sqq.), and this is here transferred to
the felix, who is thus an orator as well as everything else; the irony is obvious.
192 The diple obelismene attached to this line in the Antinoe fragment is never
used to indicate athetesis, but as a rhetorical mark or to call attention, sometimes
implying that the line in question is doubtful (cf. Roberts Journ. Egypt. Archaeol.
21, 1935, 2023). This was presumably the implication here; the line as it stands
cannot be fitted into the structure of the sentence. If it is spurious it must be a
genuine line of ancient poetry which started off as a marginal illustration; but
it seems better with Reeve CR2 21, 1971, 328 to delete [sapiens adpositam] and
suppose that the spurious matter was padded out to a whole line from the basis of
a gloss nobilis et generosus (and adpositam too could be part of an explanation of
subtexit). The sense now proceeds harmoniously, the fortunate man is handsome
and energetic, a patrician (or senator), an orator too, a champion with the javelin,
and a good singer, and in 1902 we now have one clause with est understood
followed by one with the verb subtexit, just as in 193 we understand est and in 194
have cantat. The rhythm of 1902 becomes markedly spondaic and solemn, which
quite fits the context.
Even if there were no spurious matter here, it should be noted that this is not a
statement about Quintilian, and has no connection with his ornamenta consularia

328A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

(on 197).
The line refers to the patrician or senatorial shoe (these are inextricably confused in our sources; Citroni on Mart. 1.49.31) which had an ivory crescent sewn
on the top of the instep. With NIGRAE cf. Hor. Serm. 1.6.27 nigris medium impediit crus / pellibus; but Mart. 2.29.78 (non hesterna sedet lunata lingula planta, /
coccina non laesum cingit aluta pedem) speaks of red. Presumably one colour was
senatorial and the other patrician; the emperor could confer patrician rank.
SUBTEXIT Cf. subligo, etc.
193 MAXIMUS is presumably .
IACULATOR In exercise on the Campus (Hor. Odes 1.8.12, Ovid AA 3.383).
194 As editors print this, it means and, even if he has caught cold. But I have
found no example of si = etsi that is quite like this (on 6.470), and think that in
principle Weidner was right to propose ni; however it should be nisi, since Juvenal
only uses ni where metre |[375] requires one long syllable. This also links clearly
with Horaces (on 190) nisi cum pituita molesta est.
DISTAT Thes. 1538.36.
196 RUBENTEM Cf. SHA 12.4.4. This makes a striking rhyme with 195.
197 Like Quintilian, who received the ornamenta consularia (Auson. Grat. Act.
7.31).
FORTUNA Cf. 3.3940; if Juvenal were concerned with philosophical technicalities, the tenor of the whole passage would lead us to expect fatum, but Fortuna
(cf. on 199, 9.32 and Ovid Trist. 3.7.412, Lucian Nigrin. 20) is the right goddess to
associate with ups and downs, and contrast 12.259 with ibid. 63. Moreover fortuna has a part to play within Stoic fatum; note Manil. 446 (Marius) quod, totiens
consul, exul, quod <de> exule consul hoc, nisi fata darent, nunquam fortuna
tulisset. On the other side cf. the opening words of the lectures of Valerius Licini
anus (Pliny Ep. 4.11.2) quos tibi, Fortuna, ludos facis! facis enim ex senatoribus
professores, ex professoribus senatores (doubtless an allusion to Quintilian). This
is probably what Juvenal had most particularly in mind, though Valerius had in
fact been praetor, not consul; but strict accuracy here would ruin Juvenals point.
For DE cf. 5.25.
199201 Chiastic order. P. VENTIDIUS Bassus was as a child led captive (201)
in the triumph of C. Pompeius Strabo in the Social War of 89 B.C.; he later dealt in
mules and vehicles for official use, became consul in 43 B.C. and triumphed himself
over the Parthians in 38 B.C. He is often quoted as an instance of rising in the world
(RE Ventidius 797.38, 814.65).
TULLIUS Servius (8.259), alluded to with servis 201. He has strong associations
with Fortuna (Wissowa 256, RE Fortuna 16, S. F. Bonner Roman Declamation
(1949) 62, Guarducci Rendic. Pontif. Accad. 256, 194951, 29); but to Manil. (l.c.
on 197) 667 he again illustrates the power of fatum.
ANNE ALIUD 4.78.

SATIRE SEVEN329

200 occulta potestate fatorum Pliny Pan. 1.5.

202 Yet that happy man (of 190 sqq.; such as Quintilian) is even rarer than a
white crow, whereas many have regretted the profession of rhetor. 202 should be
followed by a colon because of the adversative asyndeton between RARIOR and
MULTOS.
CORVO ALBO Cf. 6.165, Otto avis 2, Herter in H. Diller (1975) 123.
203 STERILIS (49) CATHEDRAE Mart. 1.76.14 (in which poets sat to recite);
the teacher sat on a (cf. 223 and Blmner1 123, 318, 339), represented in a
number of works of art. |[376]
204 Juvenal takes advantage of the alternative forms and to
avoid Thrsymchus, whose name had to be spelt letter by letter in his epitaph
(Athen. 10.454f). He wrote a (Suidas s.v.; cf. 177 and Radermacher
(on 157) 70), and according to suspendio periit, but nothing further is known
about this. Secundus Carrinas was a rhetorician banished by Caligula (Dio Cass.
59.20.6), and says that he poisoned himself; he was probably the father of the
man named by Tac. Ann. 15.45.2.
205 ET HUNC As well as Thrasymachus.
206 The hemlock (13.186) which turns the body cold (cf. on 1.70, 6.631; Ovid
Am. 3.7.13).
207 DI sc. dent; cf. Verg. Georg. 3.513 di meliora piis. He is alluding to the common formula S(it) T(ibi) T(erra) L(evis), found first on CEL 55.20 = CIL 1.1214,
6.10096; cf. Lattimore 65, G. Hartke Sit Tibi Terra Levis (1901), Welles Harv. Theol.
Rev. 34, 1941, 82, RAC Erde 1144, Fustel de Coulanges Book 1 ch. 1; Prop. 1.17.24 ut
mihi non ullo pondere terra foret, Lucr. 3.893 urgerive superne obtritum pondere
terrae. SINE PONDERE fills the place of an adjective weightless lacking in Latin;
cf. Ovid Met. 1.20 and 26, Aetna 482.
SPIRANTES fragrant, elsewhere usually with an accusative (2.41 is not exactly similar). Antipater of Sidon AP 7.218.8 = GowPage HE 327 asserts of Lais
, but he is probably alluding to the perfumes
which she used in life.
IN URNA PERPETUUM VER i.e. may their bones turn to flowers; cf. CEL 1313
(= CIL 9.3184).2 precor ut cineres sint ia sintque rosae terraque sibi sit levis
oro and CIL 10.7567 = IG 14.607e; Auson. Epitaph. 31 Prete sparge mero cineres
et adde rosis balsama puniceis. / perpetuum mihi ver agit inlacrimabilis urna;
Lattimore 1301 and 136. But it is hard to decide how far IN means in and how far
on, with reference to flowers growing on the grave, cf. Pers. 1.3640.
209 Quintil. 2.9.1, 2.2.4. Likewise with the grammatici 239.
21012 Chiron taught Achilles the lyre among other things, cf. Ovid AA 1.1116;
this is often represented in art (cf. e.g. Baudot pl. 1, Fleischhauer pl. 58). Of course
this cannot be an entirely serious exemplum.
GRANDIS Hor. Epode 13.11; PATRIIS IN MONTIBUS Pelion.

330A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

METUENS VIRGAE (= ferulae 1.15) ET CUI Cf. on 8.262, 14.229; C as 3.49.

TUNC Nowadays things would be different; fancy the impudence of laughing
at a teacher with a tail!
213 ATQUE ALIOS One wonders if Juvenal could have backed up this generalisation, though for the ancient blackboard jungle one may compare Plaut. Bacch.
154, 441. CAEDIT flogs. |[377]
214 sc. sua iuventus; they sneeringly called him the Cicero from the backwoods, cf. 5.59. For Gallic orators cf. on 148, for the Greek accusative ALLOBROGA on 15.93.
215 GREMIO i.e. sinui, where money was carried (1.88, 14.327).
CELADI An unknown grammaticus bearing a common freedman name (Thes.
onom. s.v.). , thinking the reference to be to the sea-god Palaemon, has introduced another mythological figure.
Q. Remmius (RE no. 4) PALAEMON, Romes most famous grammaticus; his
ars is mentioned 6.452. He taught from the reign of Tiberius to that of Nero. Actually he too, like Quintilian, subverts Juvenals case; he was indeed poor, but this
was because he squandered his large income (Suet. De Gramm. 23; cf. Pliny NH
14.4951).
Curiously Pompeius GLK 5.131.19 gives as an example doctusque Palaemon.
217 Cf. on 1867 and 2423 with Horace there quoted, Marquardt 95 (CIL 2.2892
there mentioned, which refers not to fees but to salary, gives 1151 sesterces yearly);
Suet. De Gramm. 3 is corrupt (the tradition is quadringenis annuis conductos multos edoceret). The Edict of Diocletian 7.701 gives the grammaticus four-fifths of
a rhetors fees. [Addendum, originally on p. 380: On the passage of Suetonius see
Watt, Liverpool Class. Monthly 4, 1979, 167.]
218 DISCIPULI CUSTOS The paedagogus (cf. 10.303).
ACOENONOETUS , he lacks communis sensus (8.73); so .
The word is also in Cic. Ad Att. 6.1.7 and 6.3.7, with the same variant as here;
Marc. Aurel. 1.6.2. Acoenonetus would mean selfish, refusing to share (also Pliny Ep. 3.9.8, again with the variant), which is manifestly unsuitable here. Besides, Juvenals spondaic lines, with the exception of
3.273, end in words of 3 or 4 syllables; on the other hand he has no other 6-syllable
line-ending, a very rare phenomenon generally (Hor. Serm. 2.3.79, several times
Lucretius).
219 The dispensator 1.91.
FRANGIT Cf. Pers. 6.32; Dio Cass. 57.10.4. For such deductions
cf. Palladas AP 9.174, Libanius Or. 43.9, Ep. 405.8; CIL 4.8562 qui mihi docendi
dederit mercedem, habeat quod petit a superis. See on 157.
220 INDE a mercede. A grammaticus has to bargain in typical Mediterranean
fashion like a huckster of bed linen (for whom cf. Ulpian Dig. 14.3.5.4, Pliny NH
18.225). Bonner 153 thinks that Juvenal is alluding to Palaemons investments in

SATIRE SEVEN331

textiles (Suet. l.c. on 215).

TEGETIS On 5.8; CADURCI on 6.537.
222 DUMMODO NON Cf. KS 2.447, HS 61617, Thes. dum 2224.54 and dummodo 2233.17.
PEREAT it goes to waste; cf. 174, [Quintil.] Decl. 11.1.
MEDIA HORA An exaggeration of course, though Roman |[378] schools did
begin before daylight; cf. the boy who is to get up early 14.190. See Marquardt 113,
Blmner1 318, 37980, SG 1.158 = 1.177, Marrou 362 and 517.
SEDISTI In the cathedra (203), contrasted with stabant 226. Cf. Florus Vergilius orator an poeta 3.2 sedere in scholis et pueris praecipere; 3.7 sedere in suggestu
praecipientem bonos mores.
224 Where artificial lighting is poor, full use must be made of daylight; but
not even a workman would begin so early (cf. Verg. Georg. 1.340, Cic. Tusc. 4.44
opificum antelucana industria).
OBLIQUO FERRO to card wool with the slanting iron comb, the pecten
lanarius, to prepare it for spinning, cf. Blmner2 1.110; for DEDUCERE cf. Varro
De Ling. Lat. 7.54 and (on the sheep) Colum. 7.4.5. DOCET is rather surprising;
solet Scholte. A lanarius is meant (; cf. Marquardt 504).
225 Each boy brought to school a lamp (cf. on 3.285), which would produce
FULIGO, cf. 6.131. Cf. the lamp carried by the paedagogus in Bonner fig. 3 p. 24.
226 Probably busts rather than texts of the poets (cf. on 8.8). The grammatici,
to whom boys went at the age of eleven or twelve, largely based their teaching on
the literary classics, and were particularly concerned with poetarum enarratio.
228 The jurisdiction (for COGNITIONE cf. Mommsen1 279 n. 7) which the tribunes apparently have here is mysterious; presumably they have intervened after
the praetor has refused to help. See Mommsen1 1.27980, 2.30910; Jones1 74 and
189 n. 18; de Martino 42.6278, Villers in tudes J. Macqueron (1971) 668, and
cf. 157 above.
229 VOS parentes. IMPONITE and EXIGITE (2378) are ironical challenges
which might be expressed by ite et imponite; cf. 6.597, 8.228.
CONSTET Cf. 6.166. He should not make slips in his grammar (on 6.453; loquendi regula Quintil. 1.5.1, 1.7.1) and should know all (OMNES ) the
allusions; see on 6.4503 and note that Quintilian there quoted does not lay much
store on knowledge of all the more obscure historiae; indeed Sen. Ep. 88.3 regards
the historiae as a secondary matter to a grammaticus. Quintil. 1.9.1 enarratio auctorum is historice, but many differentiated these (Bonner 239).
[Addendum 2013: 231 In RFIC 122, 1994, 139 I have suggested that ut legat be
emended to calleat.]
233 THERMAE The public baths, BALNEA PHOEBI a private bath kept (cf. 4)
by a freedman balneator called Phoebus; cf. Mart. 12.82.1 in thermis et circa balnea,
3.20.1516, Balsdon1 27, Blmner1 421 n. 4.

332A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

234 These are , quaestiones (Suet. De Gramm. 11, Tib. 56; quaestiones
explicare Quintil. 1.2.14), such as those with which Tiberius (Suet. 70) and Hadrian
(SHA 1.16.8, 20.2) liked to tease |[379] grammatici; those who solved such questions
were called (Athen. 11.493e, 494a). Cf. Quintil. 1.8.21, Sen. Ep. 88.37 (Didy
mus enquired de Aeneae matre vera), Philip AP 11.321 = GowPage GP 3033, Stgen in Hommages L. Herrmann (1960) 698, Bonner 23940, RE 251122.
In this case all the quaestiones are Vergilian.
NUTRICEM ANCHISAE on unknown authority says Tisiphone.
For ANCHEMOLUS and his step-mother see Aen. 10.389; Servius says that she
was called Casperia and was Greek. Archemorus, who appears in most mss., was
familiar to the scribes from the Thebaid of Statius (cf. on 8.229).
ACESTES is aevi maturus, Aen. 5.73; for his gift of wine cf. Aen. 1.195. This is a
climax of absurdity; at least the first two questions have answers, even if obscure
ones.
237 POLLICE Cf. Blmner2 2.118; moulding in wax is a common educational
metaphor (with which TENER harmonises), cf. Pers. 540 animus artificemque
tuo ducit (takes upon itself; not as in Juvenal) sub pollice vultum; Pliny Ep. 7.9.11;
Plato Rep. 2.429e.
238 A wax imago.
Roman educational sources lay great stress on potential moral corruption in
schools; Sen. Contr. 4 pr. 11, Quintil. 2.2.34 (which also illustrates PATER, cf. on
209) and 1415, 1.2.25; Pliny Ep. 3.3.3; Libanius Ep. 1330.2. The teacher praecipit
bonos mores (Florus quoted on 222).
239 IPSIUS seems to emphasise the sentence generally, with something of the
force of actually; cf. Shackleton Bailey on Prop. 4.8.54.
NE TURPIA LUDANT A humiliating come-down after the elevation of 2378.
For LUDANT cf. Sen. referred to on 238, and 6.O.1; lusus, etc. are often used
in an erotic sense. FACIANT is also a euphemistic erotic term, cf. Thes. s.v. 121.40,
Citroni on Mart. 1.46.1, Henderson s.v. 158.
VICIBUS = in vices (6.311); the word is so used by Pliny NH 7.15 and several
times Manilius and Statius.
IN FINE Mart. 9.69.1.
TREMENTES From sexual exhaustion; cf. Pers. 1.18 patranti fractus ocello,
[Aristotle] Probl. 4.32.88ob8 , ,
.
MANUS Cf. Sen. referred to on 238.
242 INQUIT The typical parent says; see on 8.44.
SE VERTERIT ANNUS Cf. Thes. annus 116.33. In making their contracts (cf.
Lucian De Merc. Cond. 19) teachers might stipulate payment either monthly (ibid.
23, cf. Hermotim. 80; Edict. Diocl. 7.66, Hor. Serm. 1.6.75, where the preferable
reading is octonos (sc. asses) referentes Idibus aeris) or yearly (Suet. De Gramm. 17

SATIRE SEVEN333

and evidently 3, |[380] quoted on 217; Libanius Or. 43.13, 9.16 (cf. vol. 8 p. 475.89
Foerster), 31.19; Macrob. Sat. 1.12.7 payment in March, the old beginning of the
Roman year); Palladas l.c. on 219 mentions both methods.
243 An , which of course does not report the actual words of the
parent but is Juvenals sarcastic paraphrase of them, cf. 3.155.
VICTORI A victorious gladiator, who was paid 500 sesterces (5 aurei) if auctoratus or 400 if a slave by the editor; cf. Suet. Claud. 21.5 (the counting on the
fingers of the left hand indicates 5 aurei), SC de sumptibus (on 11.7) 45; thus brains
are dragged down to the level of brawn (cf. 11314), and the grammaticus gets in a
year what a gladiator gets for a single success. The amount indicated is probably
not the fee per pupil, but the miserable total income paid up before the gramma
ticus goes to law (228; cf. Bonner 1512).
POPULUS POSTULAT Cf. Fronto p. 17.1921.

[381]

Satire Eight

This satire is addressed to a Ponticus, who was presumably of noble family (see
on 1), and discusses the nature of true nobility, which in Juvenals view derives
from virtus, not from birth. This theme is a commonplace (see e.g. RAC Genealogie 1200, Hellegouarch 476), of which many illustrations are collected in Stobaeus Flor. 4.29 (including excerpts, though of doubtful genuineness, from the
of Juvenals contemporary Plutarch); see also Galen Protrepticus 7 and
Philo De Virtutibus 187 sqq. In connection with one of Juvenals illustrations,
Marius, there is a long discussion in Sall. Iug. 85, which has provided Juvenal with
some phrases: 15 existumo fortissumum quemque generosissumum (Juv. 57),
17 maioribus suis quibus, uti mihi, ex virtute nobilitas coepit and 2930 militaria
dona cicatrices hae sunt meae imagines, haec nobilitas (Juv. 20), 223 quanta
vita illorum praeclarior, tanto horum socordia flagitiosior maiorum gloria posteris quasi lumen est, neque bona neque mala eorum in occulto patitur (Juv. 139).
The discussion of this speech by D. C. Earl Political Thought of Sallust (1961) 326
and Moral and Political Tradition of Rome (1967) 4853 (cf. Skard Symb. Osl. 21
1941, 1012) has much of interest and relevance to Juvenal. Other treatments also
show resemblances to Juvenal. Compare Sen. Contr. 1.6.34 quidam avitas paternasque flagitiis obruerunt imagines, quidam ignobiles nati fecere posteris genus; in
illis non servasse quod acceperant maximum dedecus, in his quod nemo dederat
fecisse laudabile est (there follow exempla which include Marius and Servius Tullius) quemcumque volueris revolve nobilem; ad humilitatem pervenies (illustrated
by the origins of Rome, cf. Juv. 2725): Sen. Ep. 44.5 quis est generosus? ad virtutem
bene a natura compositus. hoc unum intuendum est non facit nobilem atrium
plenum fumosis imaginibus (cf. Fredericks TAPA 102, 1971, 11516): Plin. Ep. 5.17.6
cupio ne nobiles nostri nihil in domibus suis pulchrum nisi imagines habeant: Laus
Pisonis 511 (Juvenal seems to have been familiar with this poem; cf. on 3.164, 5.171,
6.323, 7.23, 33, and for Piso 5.109) |[382]
hinc tua me virtus rapit et miranda per omnes
334

SATIRE EIGHT335
vita modos; quae, si desset tibi forte creato
nobilitas, eadem pro nobilitate fuisset.
nam quid imaginibus, quid avitis fulta triumphis
atria, quid pleni numeroso consule fasti
profuerint cui vita labat? perit omnis in illo
nobilitas cuius laus est in origine sola.

The notes record other similarities of thought and expression.

The train of thought proceeds thus:
170 exordium, stating the theme that nobility of birth is incomplete without
virtus (138), and illustrating it by the empty pride in his ancestry of the worthless
Rubellius Blandus (3970).
71145 Ponticus must be prepared to stand on his own merits, especially (87
138) as a provincial governor. Most of this long development on provincial government is not linked with the theme of nobility, which does not re-appear until
131. We must draw the inference that, as 87 suggests, Ponticus was a real person
to whom this otherwise disproportionate digression had relevance. More will be
said about it presently.
146268 Juvenal now gives exempla (184) to illustrate the notion of vicious degeneracy from noble ancestry introduced in 13345. These exempla are arranged
to form a climax. First (14682) Lateranus and his low tastes; he is disgraced by his
companions. Second (183210; note peiora 184) nobles who perform as actors (a
despised profession at Rome) and gladiators (haec ultra 199; cf. vicit 2.143); in the
first case actors and people are equally culpable (188 sqq.), in the second Gracchus
disgraces his associate (20910). Third (21130) Nero, his murders andsinging!
This will be further discussed below. 23168 develop the hint of 212 by taking a
number of pairs of nobles and men of low birth, and pointing out how the latter
often outshone the former and indeed sometimes had to suppress their villainy:
Cicero and the Catilinarians, Marius and Catulus, the Decii and Servius Tullius
(see below), the sons of Brutus and the slave Vindicius. Two of these examples are
not explicitly fitted into the pattern. Servius Tullius is an inevitable illustration
who often appears in such contexts (e.g. at Sen. Contr. 3.9.2 linked with Vindicius); there is an implicit contrast with the sons of the elder Tarquin who were
passed over for the succession and one of whom eventually murdered Servius. As
for the |[383] Decii, the elder is specifically labelled by Appian Samn. 1.1 in
contrast with his aristocratic colleagues. Apart from Servius, these examples are
arranged in reverse chronological order, as if Juvenal were making the point, reinforced in the conclusion (26975), that the corruption of the nobility goes right
back to the origins of Rome.
In this poem for the first time Juvenal shows an interest in giving some positive
advice and instructing Ponticus how he should behave (cf. p. 11), but he does so
largely in terms of negative examples which show him how he should not behave.

336A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Thus most of the poem is devoted to showing that the nobiles have not lived up
to their inheritance (cf. p. 23), and Juvenal, in the vein indicated by 1.87, can concentrate on vice and invective rather than goodness. His treatment shows some
remarkable features. First, when he advises Ponticus about his government in the
provinces, the advice is based not on ethics but on Roman institutions (91 sqq.);
this passage in fact reminds us of two other lectures on the theme, Cic. Ad Q.
Fr. 1.1 (cf. on 127) and Pliny Ep. 8.24. He says that as the result of a long series of
depredations the provincials are reduced to poverty, and there is hardly anything
left to steal; they may seem despicable, but it would be dangerous to arouse the
boldness of despair. The first of these is of course a highly ironical argument for
integrity; Juvenal is conscious of another consequence of their destitution, that
it arouses the humane feeling of pity (89). The second is, as 1256 make plain, a
serious warning. It will however be noticed that neither is based on morality. No
doubt Juvenal was aware that there are ethical reasons for honesty, but he has not
mentioned them.
Secondly it must be observed that virtually all the noble families named in this
satire were by now extinct or in total obscurity (cf. p. 23 and on 4.1534); yet see
how Juvenal gives advice to one long dead at 39, and for the dominance of the past
over him cf. p. 24 and on 198.
Thirdly, we are bound to wonder whether the mention of Neros singing as
the climax (220) of his misdeeds is meant to be a humorous anticlimax. Yet Dio
63.22.4 represents Vindex, and Tac. Ann. 15.67 Subrius Flavus (see p. 23), as coming to exactly the same climax. [Addendum, originally on p. 623: For Neros singing see also Plut. Galba 14.] No doubt Juvenal is conscious of an element of paradox, and perhaps the mention of the Troica is in fact |[384] ironical, poking fun at
epic poets as Juvenal often does; this is suggested by 221 (for the idea of Orestes
writing a Troica is hardly serious) and 223 (an important line which must not be
deleted), for neither epic alone nor combined with singing could be regarded as a
manifestation of a saeva crudaque tyrannis. Yet basically (as 198 suggests) he must
mean what he says, for if he had intended a joke he would not have ruined it by
continuing for seven more lines after 223. This is one of the most striking indications of his attachment to traditional Roman values and his indifference to purely
ethical values (cf. pp. 234); note how the reference to in scena 220 harmonises
with the weight attached to publicity in judging misdemeanours remarked l.c.
This poem is discussed by Fredericks, TAPA 102, 1971, 111.
19 The opening of this satire is beset by a grave textual problem; the following
discussion is largely reproduced from BICS 22, 1975, 151. There are four difficulties:
(a) The repetition of Corvinum 5 and 7 is intolerable, and the reference to a
capacious family tree does not suit the mention of only one man.
(b) Lepidis should follow the other proper names of 35. It may seem inconse-

SATIRE EIGHT337

quent to say family pride in being a Cornelius, a Curius, a Valerius, or a Sulpicius

is pointless if you disgrace your ancestral Aemilii, but an exactly similar inconsequence is found at 3.2548 (q.v.). It has been argued that Juvenal has in mind
particularly M. Aemilius Lepidus, the magister equitum of the dictator Caesar, but
this is a feeble defence.
(c) quid prodest ? needs a protasis (i.e. si 9) as much as 912 and 1318.
(d) What exactly were stemmata and imagines? The crucial passages are these:
Pliny NH 35.4 imaginum quidem pictura in totum exolevit (6) aliter apud
maiores in atriis expressi cera vultus singulis disponebantur armariis (cf. Juv. 19)
stemmata vera lineis discurrebant ad imagines pictas.
Sen. De Ben. 3.28.2 qui imagines in atrio exponunt et nomina familiae suae longo ordine ac multis stemmatum illigata flexuris in prima parte aedium collocant,
non noti magis quam nobiles sunt?
Suet. Nero 37.1 obiectum est Cassia Longino quod in vetere gentili stemmate C. Cassi percussoris Caesaris imagines retinuisset (I do not understand the
point of the plural imagines here; Tac. Ann. 16.7 and Dio Cass. 62.27.1 mention
only one imago).
The question at issue is whether the family tree, stemma or generis |[385] tabula,
was quite separate from the wax masks of ancestors, or the imagines were so arranged as to compose a family tree. On the former hypothesis the passage of Seneca raises no difficulties, and indeed this somewhat better suits the distinction between imagines and nomina. Pliny is more difficult; since it is inordinately harsh
to interpret ad as to correspond to, it will be necessary to understand imagines
pictas to mean that the stemmata indicated the ancestors not only by names but
also by medallion portraits. The same explanation will account for Suetonius (but
Mart. 11.102.4 in cera vultus et in tabula probably refers to ordinary paintings, not
on a stemma). This is supported by the fact that Plinys imaginum pictura picks up
after a digression the pictura of 2, which refers to portrait painting. I therefore
follow this view, and refer Juvenals pictos vultus to these miniatures also, though
the wax imagines too were probably painted ( Polybius 6.53; this has
been interpreted otherwise, but probably wrongly). This granted, it has been argued that 78 confuse two different things, on the grounds that fumosos (certainly
the correct reading) must refer to the wax imagines. The phrase fumosae imagines
is found at Cic. In Pis. 1 (in a context like Juv. 6970), Sen. Ep. 44.5 (quoted in the
introduction), Boethius Cons. Phil. 1 pros. 1; in the first place it probably, in the
second certainly refers to the wax masks. That would be more pointed here also
(cf. the sooty busts of Horace and Vergil at 7.227) because of the contrast of the
black soot on the white surface; but it could be maintained that the medallions
too would become sooty, so I do not regard this objection as quite conclusive.
We are hampered by the fact that no stemma survives either in the original or in
representation. What appears to be a set of imagines (of the Poppaei) does sur-

338A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

vive in its original setting in Pompeii (A. Maiuri La Casa del Menandro (1932)
1.98106); these stand in a row in a niche with no sign of a stemma. For imagines
in general see Walbank on Polyb. 6.53; RE imagines maiorum; Rowell Mem. Amer.
Acad. Rome 17, 1940, 1328; O. Vessberg Studien zur Kunstgesch. der rm. Republik (1941) 97105. The discussion in B. Schweitzer Bildniskunst d. rm. Rep. (1948)
19 sqq. adds nothing both new and true.
Even if the fourth difficulty is discounted, the other three cannot be removed
by emendation, which is in any case bound to be violent. 68 were deleted by
Guyet, and they were composed, I suggest, by someone who was upset by the
seeming illogicality discussed under (b). Then the repetition of Corvinum in 7 is a
sign of interpolation and not of corruption; the omission of 7 by is a secondary
corruption due to recognition of the impossibility of the repetition. If 68 are
interpolated, we may also leave undisturbed the difficulty that |[386] hereafter
(posthac P Par. 7906; post haec G Lond. Add. 30861, cf. 14.55) in 7 gives no sense;
of course Withofs (Krit. Anmerkungen 4 (1798) 116) posse ac is acceptable in itself.
1 STEMMATA See RE s.v. These were so called because the names were illuminated with painted garlands (cf. Seneca quoted in the previous note); Pliny NH
35.139 Coeneus (pinxit) stemmata (not in the technical sense). The word is synonymous with generis tabula (6), but here largely in an abstract sense, cf. 40.
QUID FACIUNT 9.34, Thes. 6.1.102.69 (but Juv. 2.166 and 8.115 are different),
Citroni on Mart. 1.59.2; add Petron. 14.1.
PONTICE 75, 179. The name (quite common in Martial, always in uncomplimentary contexts except 9.19) suggests a noble ancestor who had conquered Pontus (cf. on 2.67). We know of a Valerius P. (Tac. Ann. 14.41) and a Domitius P.
(Ann. Epigr. 1951 no. 206).
LONGO SANGUINE Cf. 27 (alto), 40; de stemmate longo Stat. Silv. 5.2.23.
2 CENSERI 74 and often; to be valued by.
3 STANTIS AEMILIANOS Triumphal statues, cf. 7.125 (coincidentally of
an Aemilius).
AEMILIANOS The Cornelii Scipiones; 11 and 2.154.
4 CURIOS Cf. on 2.3; Curius is here thought of as the opponent of Pyrrhus.
DIMIDIOS Humorously for mutilated cf. 15.5 (and 57), 13.96, Mart. 10.1.10;
cf. the statue at 7.125 sqq.
UMEROSQUE MINOREM Housman pointed out that this can only mean
umeros minores habentem, i.e. armless; cf. Sil. It. 3.42 frontem minor of the river-god whose horn has been broken off his forehead. This is precisely the sense
required, and Housmans statement that the expression is obscure is merely a
subjective judgment; for the accusative of respect with a part of the body cf. 6.491
and for the accusative after a participle 8.16. Prateus conjectured umeroque, which
would mean lacking a shoulder; this would suit a bust (the wax imagines were at
first masks, later busts), but Juvenal seems now to be talking rather of statues, and

SATIRE EIGHT339

the change is needless and undesirable. For the shift to the singular see on 11.91.
The physical decay of these portraits symbolises the decline of the noble republican ideals and traditions; cf. the deliberate breaking in 18.
5 CORVINUM M. Valerius Corv(in)us, who won his cognomen as military
tribune in 349 B.C. from the famous single combat with a Gaul in which a corvus
assisted the Roman. See RE Valerius no. 137, Broughton 1.129.
GALBAM A branch of the Sulpicii. The emperor Galba was particularly |[387]
proud of his distinguished (and partly fictional) family tree; Suet. 23, Plut. 3, Tac.
Hist. 2.76.2, cf. Sil. It. 8.468 sqq.
AURICULIS The diminutive in this word was common in ordinary speech
and prevailed in Romance (Bork Glotta 55, 1977, 120), but here perhaps does express some disparagement.
6 QUIS FRUCTUS with the infinitive also Calp. Flaccus Decl. 22 (p. 20.12 Lehnert). A comma after fructus would be helpful.
IACTARE Thes. 7.1.58.41; to show off.
7 CONTINGERE 11.62.
VIRGA A linea (Pliny quoted on 19 and others) linking up the relatives;
called rami Pers. 3.28, ramusculi Isid. 9.6.28.
FUMOSOS The ancients had no chimneys, except in the baths and ovens of
public bakeries, and some of the fuels employed would produce much fumus (on
1.120; Mart. 2.90.7, Sidon. Apoll. Ep. 2.2.11, Carcopino 45). Rightly or wrongly
some derived atrium (Thes. s.v. 1101.20), cf. 20, from ater.
EQUITUM MAGISTROS Apart from the revival of the office by Sulla and
Caesar, the last dictator was appointed in 202 B.C.
9 LEPIDIS Aemiliis; cf. 6.265.
CORAM VIVITUR Cf. Val. Max. 2.9.1 quid prodest (cf. Juv. 1) foris esse
strenuum, si domi male vivitur; Sen. Ep. 97.1 nunquam apertius quam coram Catone peccatum est.
EFFIGIES QUO The ius imaginum (a modern, not an ancient term) was
restricted to those who had held curule office; cf. Seneca quoted on 19.
10 LUDITUR ALEA The passive of aleam ludere; cf. Ovid Trist. 2.471, Ulpian
Dig. 11.5.1 pr.
PERNOX Cf. SHA 5.4.6 fertur et nocte perpeti alea lusisse and Codex Just.
3.43.1; see on 1.88 for the illegality of dicing.
11 ANTE Cf. (22), 144 (q.v.), 156 and coram 9.
NUMANTINOS i.e. Scipio Aemilianus (3); the plural also Prop. 4.11.30, Pliny
Ep. 8.6.2.
DORMIRE INCIPIS Cf. Sen. Ep. 122.9 of the lucifuga Buta (see Balsdon1 142);
SHA 17.28.6. INCIPIS is presumably the indefinite second person; for the indicative see on 3.100.
12 DUCES Scipio and the others.

340A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

13 ALLOBROGICIS The cognomen won by Q. Fabius Maximus, cos. 121 B.C.

(RE Fabius no. 110; Broughton 1.520), for his victory over the Allobroges. Juvenal
probably has in mind both his son (Cic. Tusc. 1.81; Val. Max. 3.5.2 in a chapter on
degeneracy from noble parents) and Q. Fabius Persicus (RE no. 120, PIR2 F 51),
cos. A.D. 34, whose degeneracy from Allobrogicus is insisted on by Sen. De Ben.
4.30.2. |[388]
MAGNA ARA So called also by Tac. Ann. 15.41 (cf. 12.24.1); the usual Mxm
would not fit the verse. On this altar, said to have been established by Hercules, see
Latte 213, Wissowa 273, PlatnerAshby 253, RE Hercules 551 sqq., Frazer on Ovid
Fasti 1.581, H. Lyngby Beitrge zur Topographie des Forum-Boarium-Gebietes
(1954) xvi and 1.
14 HERCULEO The Fabii (cf. 191 and 2.146; RE s.v. 1740) were said to be descended from Hercules; the contrast with the divine origin of the family emphasises the degeneracy of this Fabius, cf. 2.132.
15 EUGANEA An ornamental epithet, cf. 1.22. The Euganei were a tribe of
Venetia; the sheep of Altinum (called Euganean at Mart. 4.25.14) were famous
(Blmner1 2389, Marquardt 477, Lauffer 269 on Edict. Diocl. 21.2).
VANUS 3.159, 14.211.
QUANTUMVIS KS 2.446, HS 604.
MOLLIOR (cf. on 2.47) AGNA See Otto agna.
16 CATINENSI Catina being near Etna had plenty of volcanic pumice-stone,
but it also had a bad reputation for dissoluteness; quotes Furius Bibaculus fr. 4
Morel Osce senex Catinaeque puer, Cumana meretrix. Tertull. De Pallio 4.5 mentions a mime Catinenses by Lentulus.
PUMICE Often mentioned as a depilatory; 9.95, Pliny NH 36.154, pumicatus
Pliny Ep. 2.11.23 etc.; RE Bimstein 474.
LUMBUM 2.12, 6.O.24.
17 SQUALENTIS hairy (9.15), contrasted with tenerum; cf. horrida 116 with
11415 and on 4.103.
TRADUCIT caricatures 2.159, 7.16, 11.31 and often; this sense appears first
in Livy (2.38.3) and is derived from the custom of marching prisoners in mockery through the streets of Rome at a triumph (Duff), for which cf. Livy 36.40.11,
45.39.13. The triumph of this Fabius is over his ancestors, unlike that of Allobro
gicus.
EMPTOR VENENI 9.10, 13.154.
18 FRANGENDA (see on 14.268) IMAGINE A mark of disgrace, often applied
to public enemies, cf. Vittinghoff 1318.
19 CERAE i.e. imagines. Ovid Am. 1.8.65 veteres circum atria cerae.
20 VIRTUS is the subject, NOBILITAS SOLA ATQUE UNICA (cf. Hor. Epist.
1.6.1 res una solaque) the predicate. The sentiment is common; see introduction
and Quintilian quoted on 56 with e.g. Cicero in a letter to Hirtius (Ep. 3 p. 162

SATIRE EIGHT341

Watt) cum enim nobilitas nihil aliud sit quam cognita virtus; Vell. Pat. 2.128.1
neque novus hic mos senatus putandi quod optimum sit esse nobilissimum (followed by mention of Marius).
21 Juvenal probably has in mind particularly L. Aemilius Paulus |[389] (2.146),
the victor in the Third Macedonian War, Drusus (cf. 40) the brother of Tiberius,
and Cossus Cornelius Lentulus (RE Cornelius no. 182, PIR2 C 1380), cos. 1 B.C.
and conqueror of the Gaetuli, who according to imperial custom gave the name
Gaetulicus (26) to his son but did not take it himself (Mnzer 355 n. 1; cf. on 2.67).
COSSUS under the empire became a characteristic praenomen of the Cornelii (cf.
3.184); hence it identifies the gens as clearly as the cognomina with which it is combined (cf. 192, Tac. Ann. 15.22.2 and on 6.385). The imperial Cossi were all meritorious (La Fleur AJP 93, 1972, 598), though cf. 10.202. Cf. the remark of Augustus to
a conspirator (Sen. De Clem. 1.9.10) Paulusne te et (this word should perhaps be
deleted) Fabius Maximus et Cossi et Servilii ferent tantumque agmen nobilium non
inania nomina praeferentium, sed eorum qui imaginibus suis decori sint?
22 HOS mores.
ANTE PONE Not simply antepone prefer, but more picturesque, as if
mores were to be set up in the atrium in front of the imagines (instead of dice; ante
11); Gnilka Symb. Osl. 44, 1969, 93.
23 The mores are personified as preceding the very fasces (VIRGAS cf. 136),
which normally nobody would do. The rhythm of 213 is markedly solemn.
ILLI has the same reference as hos, which the anaphora makes a harsh switch;
cf. Ovid Fasti 1.417 hanc cupit, hanc optat, sola suspirat in illa, AA 2.4912, Stat. Th.
1.2734 hic illic, Silv. 1.3.76 haec after three cases of ille. 2.45 even if not corrupt
would not be parallel.
24 ANIMI BONA virtues, mores.
SANCTUS PROCEREM In effect a paratactic conditional clause; see on
6.329.
SANCTUS 127; a man of integrity.
26 PROCEREM The singular of this word (see on 4.73) is very rare (NeueWagener 1.662); procer SHA 19.2.1.
SALVE hail of homage. Juvenal means if you are virtuous, then your noble
birth is allowed full value (Duff).
SEU TU SILANUS i.e. vel Silane, si tu Silanus es. A D. Iunius Silanus Gaetulicus (RE Iunius no. 179; PIR2 I 835) became a Salius in A.D. 63; he was presumably
the grandson of the victor of the Gaetuli (on 21) adopted by a Iunius Silanus. It is
however unlikely that Juvenal is thinking of this family connection.
27 With alio, it is necessary to put a comma after Silanus and a full stop after
ovanti, so that it will mean hail, Gaetulicus, or Silanus, or whatever other family
has produced you as a boon to the state; for the asyndeton before quocumque cf.
6.O.20, 13.83, 15.99, KS 2.154. But the limitation to noble descent given by ALTO

342A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

(cf. 40) is very |[390] desirable; alto a sanguine Verg. Aen. 4.230, 5.45, 6.500. It will
now mean whatever noble family you come from as a boon to the state, public
rejoicing is called for.
29 EXCLAMARE LIBET This combination is so common (to Friedlaenders
examples add Cic. De Nat. Deor. 1.13) that it must have been a clich.
POPULUS i.e. Romanus 6.534. There was an annual feast called Heuresis in November commemorating the grief of Isis at the loss of the body of Osiris and her
joy at its recovery, which was hailed with the ritual chant ,
( in the mss. of Seneca); cf. Sen. Apoc. 13.4, Plut. Is. et Osir. 39 (with
the commentary of J. G. Griffiths p. 452), Wissowa 3534, Latte 283, RE Isis 2129,
RAC Freude 369, Cumont1 90, Stern Comptes Rendus de lAcad. des Inscr. 1968, 43,
Fridh Eranos 74, 1976, 145.
Thus the discovery of a meritorious noble is like the revival of a dead god, and
deserves an ovatio. The people ovat when it shouts salve (26).
30 DIXERIT Cf. on 2.24; QUI sc. est.
GENEROSUM (224) contrasted with INDIGNUS GENERE. A degenerate nobleman is as ridiculous a contrast (antiphrasis Isid. 1.37.24 with reference to this
passage; permutatio ex contrario, Ad Herenn. 4.46) to his name as the following
examples. For similar cases of antiphrasis cf. Pliny NH 7.75 (including a dwarf
called Andromeda), Plut. Quaest. Symp. 2.1.6.632d; Lucian 2
comments on the ridicule implied in such names.
32 NANUM Dwarfs often formed part of the household of the rich; Marquardt
152, Blmner1 412, RE deliciae 2438, SG 2.221 = 2.372, 4.6 = 4.2. There was a special
market for them at Rome (Plut. De Curios. 10.520c, Adv. Colot. 3.1108d).
ATLANTA He was naturally a huge man, Ovid Met. 4.630 sqq.; cf. Mart. 6.77.7
and the dwarf called Magnus, Prop. 4.8.41.
33 AETHIOPEM negro; see on 2.23.
CYCNUM For this as a name see Thes. onom. s.v. 784.37; for the white complexion of the mythological Cycnus see Sen. Ag. 215, schol. Theocr. 16.49.
PRAVAM crooked, the opposite of recta; Cic. Tusc. 4.29, Hor. Serm. 1.3.48,
Tac. Hist. 4.81.
EXTORTAM The technical term for such was distortus (Suet. Aug. 83), but extorquere (Thes. 2040.69) has similar usages, e.g. Pliny Ep. 8.18.9 omnibus membris
extortus et fractus.
34 Mange has made their hair drop out, and they try to lick some oil out of a
dry lamp because they have not the energy to search far for water. The laziness of
these dogs (as of the horses 67) is like that of the nobiles (401, 53, 68, 756). |[391]
36 For TIGRIS as a dog-name see Mentz Philol. 88, 1933, 421; is also
known (ibid. 184), but not ; is doubtful (ibid. 198).
ADHUC The word-order discourages joining this with violentius and favours
linking it with SI QUID in the Silver sense etiam, aliud, cf. 6.502 (KS 2.4623, HS 485).

SATIRE EIGHT343

37 FREMAT 14.247; like e.g. lions.

CAVEBIS ET METUES The future tense giving an instruction, cf. 9.101 and KS
1.144, HS 311.
38 TU Not Ponticus, but anyone; cf. on 2.61.
CRETICUS A Caecilius Metellus (cf. on 2.67); but perhaps Juvenal is thinking
of the ironical conferment of this name on M. Antonius, propraetor 7471 B.C.
(Plut. Ant. 1; cf. on 105).
CAMERINUS A Sulpicius; 7.90.
SIC solo nomine et non moribus a gloss in P which shows that sic was the inherited reading in P too and was accidentally corrupted through haplography.
disliked the ellipse of sis. The conjecture is due to Lubinus, not to Junius.
39 A remarkable instance of the way in which Juvenal represents long-dead
(cf. 71) characters as alive; cf. 146 sqq., 3.238, 13.157 (for parallels in other authors
cf. C. P. Jones Plutarch and Rome (1971) 131). The Rubellius Blandus here admonished was evidently an otherwise unknown brother of Rubellius Plautus, executed
by Nero in A.D. 62; cf. C. Letta and S. DAmato Epigrafia della Regione dei Marsi
(1975) p. 85. The family tree is this:

The family pride of Rubellius Blandus illustrates a significant difference between

the Republic and the Empire. In imperial times nobilitas can be derived through
the maternal side, which would be inconceivable under the Republic (Gelzer 151,
Syme1 654, Oliver Illinois Class. Stud. 3, 1978, 255); see Tac. Hist. 1.1415 and Suet.
Galba 2 (with Gelzer 1423), Tac. Ann. 14.22.
TECUM EST So the mss.; the omission of est by Clausen is an error.
40 TUMES Tac. Hist. 1.16.2 (Neronem longa Caesarum serie tumentem; |[392]
[Sen.] Oct. 496 cives clara tumentes genere; cf. inflatum 72 and Pers. 3.27, 4.20.
ALTO Cf. 131 and on 27.
DRUSORUM i.e. the emperors descended from Drusus, namely Claudius,
Caligula, Nero; so Mart. 8.52.3. Claudius (cf. 3.238) bore the name Drusus until
he became emperor (RE Claudius 27812, PIR2 C p. 226); Caligula never carried it;
Nero bore it between his adoption by Claudius and his succession (PIR2 D pp. 35
6), and even afterwards it appears on a few documents (ibid. 37 fin.). It is unlikely
that there is any reference to the son of Tiberius, who had Drusus as a praenomen.
41 FECERIS IPSE Ovid Met. 13.140 nam genus et proavos et quae non fecimus

344A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ipsi, / vix ea nostra voco; cf. 756 below.

42 FULGET Sen. Med. 209; Sil. It. 17.12.
43 SUB AGGERE See on 16.25; cf. super aggerem SHA 17.30.4, and Strabo
5.3.7.234 says that the Porta Viminalis is . Houses were built
on to the Servian Wall on the Esquiline (Jordan 1.3.370), and according to PlatnerAshby 354 this was the highest point in Rome. The agger here is ventosus
(apricus Hor. Serm. 1.8.15) because of its height (hence praecipitari ex aggere as a
method of execution Suet. Cal. 27.2).
CONDUCTA Tib. 1.6.79 a destitute old woman conductis adnectit licia telis,
cf. AP 6.282.3. The women may have worked either in their own houses or in a
textrina; more likely the former, since, though some centres did have factories
for textile production, at Rome it remained mainly a domestic industry. Cf. ES
5.2013 and 224, Loane 701, Jones2 350, F. Kiechle Sklavenarbeit und Technischer
Fortschritt (1969) 106, and compare the woman at Apul. Met. 9.5 fin. To call someone a weaver is an insult, MacMullen2 139.
44 INQUIS This was altered from inquit by the scribe of P himself, and the
third person deserves consideration; it is often used to mean someone says (cf.
3.153, 7.242, 10.291?; HS 417, KS 1.56, Thes. inquam 1779.44) and is the only form
of this verb used elsewhere by Juvenal. However, though it is found in the middle
of second persons at 14.153 (cf. ait 9.63), Rubellius is strongly visualised here as
the subject.
PARS Cf. 1.26, Lucan 6.593 non ultima turbae / pars ego Romanae.
45 i.e. their parents were slaves, who, since in Roman law they had no patres,
had no patria either.
46 Cecrops was (Apollodorus 3.14.1.1), indigena (Ampelius 15.1;
cf. ML Kekrops 1018.50), in contrast to the parents of 45.
Lucian Timon 23 (cf. Synesius Ep. 3 col. 1328 Migne; Dio Chrys. 66.21)
is probably proverbial in nature. |[393]
VIVAS Good luck to you, a form of toasting (Marquardt 337, 7545); cf. vivite
Lucil. 75. But there seem to be two ironical undertones, first that of
(a long farewell to you), second that, as 55 shows, it is questionable whether Rubellius can be said to be alive.
47 Housman, largely in order to bolster up his mistaken emendation in 49,
claims a contrast between Cecropides and Quiritem, as if the poet were humorously misunderstanding Rubellius and supposing him to be claiming descent in
fact from Cecrops, as if he were a Greek, not a Roman; then 45 would refer to the
descent of the Romans from those who fled to Romulus asylum (2725; Sall. Ep.
Mithrid. 17 convenas olim sine patria parentibus). It is true that at Ovid Am. 1.7.29
minimum de plebe Quiritem the implication of Roman citizenship is in point, but
it is not ibid. 3.14.9 ignoto Quiriti; and Rubellius does use nostri in 44.
Oratory, the law and the army are the three usual ways of advancement at

SATIRE EIGHT345

Rome; cf. 14.191 sqq., Livy 39.40.5, Cic. Pro Muren. 2230 (slanted), Tac. Dial. 28.7.
For orators of humble origin cf. Tac. Dial. 8 and Gudeman p. 234. 479 embrace
causidici (cf. Petron. 46.8), 4950 iurisconsulti (such a plebeian jurist was Pegasus
4.77); cf. Tac. Ann. 11.7.3 plebem quae toga enitesceret.
NOBILIS A noun, cf. on 2.9; INDOCTI though nobiles should know the law
(Pomponius Dig. 1.2.2.43 turpe esse patricio et nobili et causas oranti ius in quo
versaretur ignorare).
TOGATA has not much point with plebs, and is particularly harsh after 47, as
if the plebs togata (i.e. clients, cf. 1.96, 3.127, 7.142) were being contrasted with a
yet lower class, the ima plebs, i.e. workmen who would wear only a tunic. PLEBE
cannot be corrupt since the indication of humble birth is essential (Housmans
argument on this point fails, as indicated above); we should read TOGATUS with
Scriverius (in T. Crenius, Animadv. Phil. et Hist. 13, 1705, 34), i.e. a lawyer (cf. 240
and on 16.45; also e.g. CIL 8.646), whose garb of peace is contrasted with that of
the armis industrius 52.
50 The knots of the law are referred to by lawyers themselves at Gellius 13.10.1;
Codex Just. 1.14.12.4 and 4.29.23 pr.; cf. Amm. Marc. 30.4.13. Students of law at
stages in their career were called and (Dig. pr. 5). Cf. the nodosus
Cicuta at Hor. Serm. 2.3.69.
51 HINC de plebe; hic (see the apparatus) would be too confusing after the
different use in 48.
EUPHRATEN Cf. 169; probably thinking of Trajans recent campaigns. Juvenal mentions the extreme northern and eastern frontiers.
IUVENIS i.e. as a soldier; cf. on 2.155. |[394]
DOMITI BATAVI The genitive depends on CUSTODES. This tribe had revolted in A.D. 69, but was now a client people by no means completely subject (Tac.
Hist. 4.12 and 17, Germ. 29); for the garrisons stationed among them see Anderson on Germ. 29.2. Sil. It. 3.608 would seem to imply that they were involved in
Domitians German wars, but their name there is only used by metonymy; Juvenal
himself is rather inexact about German tribes 4.147.
52 AQUILAS i.e. legiones; Thes. s.v. 372.55.
53 Another Athenian allusion counters the claim to Cecropid origin. Cf. Sidon.
Apoll. Ep. 4.12.3 illum ipsum Hermam stolidissimum. TRUNCUS here means
limbless, but in its meaning tree-trunk is a common proverb of insensibility; cf.
Otto stipes, Hofmann p. 88. For the comparison with a statue see Otto statua; Eur.
Electra 3838; perhaps [Sall.] Ep. ad Caes. 2.9.4 inertissimi nobiles in quibus, sicut
in statua (Lipsius; instituto codd.; in titulo Jordan) praeter bonum nomen nihil
est additamenti. It is possible, though it cannot be proved, that Juvenal intended
further implications; that Rubellius only limb was the phallus of a Herm, or that
(TRUNCUS suggesting mutilated) he did not even possess this virility. This latter would harmonise well with the symbolic value of the broken imagines of 45

346A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

and suggest a reference to the famous Athenian Mutilation of the Herms.

55 TUA VIVIT IMAGO you are a living statue (or more precisely he is his
own death-mask, cf. 45), comically reversing the commonplace that fine statues
seem to be alive (see on 103). Cf. Sen. Dial. 9.16.1 Cato ille virtutium viva imago.
56 DIC MIHI cf. 6.265.
TEUCRORUM PROLES Cf. 1.100; descended, with the help of adoptions,
from Julius Caesar (cf. 40).
ANIMALIA MUTA Cf. 15.143; ( eventually comes to mean
horse; Charitonides Mnem.2 37, 1909, 260). The argument from the animal analogy is a commonplace of rhetoric, [Quintil.] Decl. Min. 277, 307 etc.; in particular
the illustration from horses in contexts like this, Quintil. 5.11.4 (as an example of
induction), Epictet. fr. 18 and 3.14.1213, Dio Chrys. 15.30.
57 Accius 272 non genus virum ornat, generis vir fortis loco.
58 SIC quia fortis, non quia generosus est.
FACILI PALMA Circumstantial ablative with easy-won victories, cf. Catull.
62.11 (so E. G. Hardy in his edition of 18912). For the palm-branch as prize cf. RE
phoinix 4012 (where it is mentioned at 401.44 that gems show it being placed on
horses) and suppl. 7.1636.43.
VICTORIA The shout of victory. Cf. Florus Vergilius orator an poeta 1.6 ille de
Dacia triumphus exsultat. |[395]
PLURIMA (VICTORIA) contrasted with rara 63.
RAUCO 9.144, 11.197.
60 GRAMINE Cf. patriam 45.
61 FUGA Speed (Thes. s.v. 1467.57); PULVIS (10.37) raised by his feet. Cf. Bacchyl. 5.43 .
62 Human genealogical terms were often applied to the pedigrees of horses (SG
10
2 .31); e.g. stemma (Stat. Silv. 5.2.21 sqq.), nobilis, generosus.
PECUS A contemptuous word.
CORYPHAEI leader; HIRPINUS a famous horse, known from
Martial (3.63.12 Hirpini avos) and CIL 6.10069, derived his name from his native gramen (60), as was common.
63 IUGO The horses were always driven in teams, but one horse is regularly
singled out and named as the victor (see the inscriptions in SG 4.148 = 4.179 sqq.,
and CIL 6.1004756; Cameron1 478; Sil. It. 16.333 sqq.); this would be the lefthand trace-horse (cf. Sil. 361), which needed particular skill for turning close to
the spina (RE suppl. 7.1639.57 and 1633.55; RSV 3.523 n. 6). He must be meant by
the name principium in the inscription of Diocles (SG 161 = 193).
RARA The adjective often appears where English idiom would suggest an adverb (Lewis and Short s.v. II B 1 b); cf. on 10.18 (13.8 is not striking). Seneca and
Martial are the only post-Augustan poets who use raro.
VICTORIA should be printed with a capital; Juvenal is thinking of representa-

SATIRE EIGHT347

tions of the goddess, who naturally had a part in the ceremonial of the games, such
as are mentioned in RE Victoria 2528.
64 IBI In the case of the horse; cf. 11.176.
NIL RESPECTUS Suet. Nero 22 occultae musicae nullum esse respectum.
65 DOMINOS MUTARE Cf. Beseler, ZRG 50, 1930, 64 for this legal phrase.
66 Knoche asserts that et was deleted by the scribe of P himself, but other collators do not agree. The asyndeton is very harsh, and I incline to read trito et. This
will have been corrupted to et trito to restore simplex ordo, trito will be an attempt
to mend the metre of this, and tritoque a subsequent effort to remove the asyndeton. Cf. Sen. Phaedr. 34 trito collo of dogs whose collar has rubbed their neck;
Ep. 19.6 cervicem iugo tritam.
EPIR(A)EDIA Ullmann in Hommages Leon Herrmann (1960) 745 rightly derives this word from two Celtic constituents, epos horse (see on 157) and r(a)eda
(3.10 and 236, 4.118), so that it will mean horse-carriage; cf. Pliny NH 3.123 eporedias Galli bonos equorum |[396] domitores vocant. Juvenals spelling however is
dictated by the false etymology from (Quintil. 1.5.8). For vehicle words derived from Celtic see HS 766.
67 SEGNIPEDES A , coined after the likewise rare .
Cf. on 9.65.
MOLAM VERSARE An indignity for a broken-down race-horse, as asses
would normally turn the mill in the pistrinum;. cf. Plaut. Asin. 709, Edict. Diocl.
15.52 (JRS 63, 1973, 102) mola caballaria, Pomponius Dig. 33.7.15, Blmner2 1.34 and
38 sqq., Toynbee 184, Vigneron 182 and pl. 71, Kiechle (on 43) 100, Moritz 100.
68 TE NON TUA Cf. Ovid quoted on 41, from a different viewpoint. Bion ap.
Diog. Laert. 4.47 .
PRIMUM (cf. 2.44) is, as B. Axelson Neue Senecastudien (1939) 51, points out,
quite faultless; privum would suitably underline the point, but it cannot be called
necessary, and Juvenal would hardly have used such a cascum verbum. The passages which come closest to defending it are Hor. Serm. 2.5.11, Epist. 1.1.93, Ovid
Tristia 2.138, Manil. 2.126 (where however there is special justification; see Housman, who puts the line after 270).
DA i.e. exhibe; cf. on 16.29.
69 TITULIS On his statues (cf. 1.130 and on 5.110) or his tomb (6.230, 10.143);
cf. 10.578 honorum pagina.
70 DAMUS AC DEDIMUS Cf. on 3.190. In giving to you we are really giving
to them. Distinguished ancestry still carried weight in public life, Sen. De Ben.
4.30.14, cf. SG 1.109 = 1.118.
72 INFLATUM Cf. on 40.
NERONE PROPINQUO i.e. Neronis propinquitate; cf. HS 393, KS 1.770, Naegelsbach 20.1, Woodcock p. 76 and index nouns.
73 FERME as a rule; 13.236.

348A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

SENSUS COMMUNIS Cf. on 7.218, 15.146; the fellow-feeling that unites mankind, feeling for others. See Bentley on Hor. Serm. 1.3.66, Thomson CR1 34, 1920, 18.
RARUS IN Pliny Ep. 8.23.3; FORTUNA rank 11.176.
746 Stat. Silv. 5.1.513 laudantur proavis quae falsae (or -a) potentes
laudis egent verae; cf. also Pan. Mess. 29 sqq., esp. 32 quam tibi maiores maius decus ipse futuris (cf. FUTURAE); Plut. (?) fr. 139 Sandbach from the .
CENSERI Cf. 2; NOLUERIM see on 15.21; IPSE cf. 41.
767 The COLUMNAE are the metaphorical correspondent to ALIORUM
FAMA.
78 A semi-colon after 77 would make it plainer that 78 quotes a proverbial illustration of being left in the lurch. Cf. Aristoph. Wasps 1291
(cf. Liban. Ep. |[397] 218.9), on which the scholiast notes
; see the many quotations of the line listed by W. Kraus Testimonia Aristophanea (1930) 28. Juvenal changes the Greek method of viticulture by props
to the Italian (very rarely used in Greece) of training on trees, particularly elms
(vites arbustivae; cf. RE Ulme 548 and arbustum, MarescalchiDalmasso 9, Billiard 3668, Blmner1 5767, White1 236). This procedure is often spoken of in
terms of marrying the vine and the tree (RE l.c. 552, Pease CP 22, 1927, 95); maritus,
maritare, coniunx (Colum. 5.6.18), nubere, dos (Colum. 3.3.5), dotare (Pliny NH
18.266) etc. Viduus unmarried is similar, cf. Catull. 62.49 sqq., Hor. Odes 4.5.30,
Colum. 4.22.6, but here has the extra point that the palmes has fallen off the elm.
For elm-trees cf. 6.150, Hor. Odes 2.15.45 (where it is contrasted with the platanus
caelebs; the plane-tree is too bushy for this purpose), Ovid Met. 14.661 sqq., Pliny
NH 17.200.
79 TUTOR BONUS A traditional Roman virtue, Cato ap. Gell. 5.13.4, Cic. Pro
Q. Rosc. 16, Hor. Epist. 2.1.122; contrast 1.46.
ARBITER In civil cases.
81 RI This quantity is attested in Hor. Odes 3.16.25, Phaedrus 3.10.2; in the
dative Hor. Odes 3.24.64 and spi Sen. Phaedr. 131; cf. fidi 13.6, which appears first
in Manilius (Housman on 2.605).
PHALARIS 6.486 and Otto s.v. with Nachtrge 114, 201.
82 FALSUS testis, cf. 14.218, 16.32.
ADMOTO A verb often used of application of means of compulsion, Thes.
s.v. 770.65.
83 ANIMAM life cf. 15.94; PUDORI honour as 16.34 etc.
84 VIVENDI CAUSAS What makes life worth living; 11.11, CEL 1402.4, Pliny
Ep. 1.12.3, 5.5.4. Pliny NH 28.9 vitam quidem non adeo expetendam censemus ut
quoquo modo trahenda sit.
856 These lines are not well fitted into the argument.
PERT is dead already, perfect; so before a consonant 6.563 (cf. on 3.174). Cf.
Sen. Ep. 934 ante mortem periit; Plaut. Bacch. 485 nam ego illum periisse dico quoi

SATIRE EIGHT349

quidem periit pudor.

CENTUM Oysters were sold by the hundred, Edict. Diocl. 5.6.
86 GAURANA From the Lucrine Lake (see on 4.140); for Mount Gaurus see
on 9.57.
COSMI A famous perfumer often mentioned by Martial (also the spurious
Petron. fr. 18). His name is derived from his profession; cf. cosmetae 6.477. His
aenum is a living death (85) as surely as the bronze bull of Phalaris (82) is a literal
one.
TOTO The sense would be more plainly given by totus; Mart. 4.22.4 (cf. 8.30.6),
Val. Flacc. 2.536 are very similar. But, as usual with such so-called enallages (HS
15960), it makes reasonable |[398] sense as it stands (cf. on 90); when he is entirely
submerged he fills the whole cauldron. It also suggests extravagance; he uses up
the whole stock.
87 exspectata diu vix tandem Catull. 62.2.
88 IRAE FRENA (cf. 135) from Hor. Epist. 1.2.623.
89 SOCIORUM 99, 108, 136 etc.; a common euphemism (RSV 1.72, Mommsen1
3.724, M. Wegner Untersuch. zu den lat. Begriffen socius und societas (1969) 91)
which here emphasises the heinousness of plundering them.
90 explains INOPUM; for RERUM cf. 249, for OSSA Mart. 5.44.11. A more
straightforward method of expression would be vacua exsuctis medullis. Yet, as
in 86, the expression is not without defence. Plenus can be applied not only to a
vessel but also to its contents (HS 356; Prop. 1.20.44, aliquid plenae vitale medullae, Calpurn. Buc. 5.115), and so therefore might vacuus (cf. Cic. Pro Marcell.
17 gladium vagina vacuum); and ossa exsucta on its own would be acceptable on
the principle mentioned on 3.2267. Cf. Hor. Epode 5.37 exsucta (v.l. exsecta) medulla; [Sen.] Herc. Oet. 1230 malum / hausit medullas, ossibus vacuis sedet; Amm.
Marc. 30.4.13 adusque ipsas medullas exsuctus (metaphorical as here); similarly
with Lucian Timon 8.
92 bonorum praemiis in a similar context Pliny Pan. 70.2; e.g. temples, statues,
festivals named after them.
FULMINE Often used of imperial punishments (e.g. by Ovid of his exile; see
Fowler CR1 29, 1915, 46, Scott TAPA 61, 1930, 53); Thes. s.v. 1528.28. It implies a
flattering comparison of the emperor with Jupiter, cf. 6.619, Sen. NQ 2.434. On
the Arch of Beneventum Jupiter is handing his thunderbolt to Trajan, who holds
it on some coins (Mattingly 3 pl. 30.4 and 34.7; cf. Beaujeu 71 and pl. 4); Cara
calla (?) is <t>onitrator CIL 6.1080. Cf. Artemidorus 2.9 (p. 112.25 Pack)
, and see RAC Gewitter 1138.
[924 Addendum, originally on p. 623: See Syme AJP 100, 1979, 26971.]
93 RUERINT carries on the metaphor; cf. corruere Pliny Ep. 3.9.34 and (of
Capito) concidere Tac. Ann. 16.21.3.
CAPITO Cossutianus Capito was accused by the Cilicians and condemned in

350A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

A.D. 57 (Tac. Ann. 13.33, 16.21; Quintil. 6.1.14). TUTOR is unknown; he was perhaps
one of the Vellaei, who carried this cognomen, and either predecessor or successor of Capito (this is suggested by 96). He may have been one of the
mentioned by Dio Chrys. 34.9 and 42 (delivered in Tarsus), if the allusion there is
to Capito. Cf. Castritius, Historia 20, 1971, 81.
DAMNANTE SENATU The usual procedure; see D. Magie Roman Rule in
Asia Minor (1950) 1419 n. 68; Brunt Historia 10, 1961, 199; Bleicken 161. |[399]
94 PIRATAE CILICUM A paradox; the Cilicians themselves were notorious
pirates until suppressed by Pompey (see H. A. Ormerod Piracy in the Ancient
World (1924) 2556 for the last traces of this). Cf. Cic. 2 Verr. 1.90 C. Verrem in
ea classe quae contra piratas aedificata sit piratam ipsum consceleratum fuisse;
154 praedonum praedo pirata nefarius. Coincidences in the following with the
Verrines (cf. 106) are so many and so close that they can hardly be due merely to
common subject-matter.
QUID CONFERT 1.4750 and 106.
956 PANSA and NATTA (a cognomen of the Pinarii) seem to be simply
typical names of aristocratic governors, not actual governors (though M. Hirrius
Fronto Neratius Pansa was governor of Cappadocia and Galatia under Vespasian;
B. Thomae Senatores Procuratoresque Romani (1975) 43, B. Kreiber Die Statthalter
Kleinasiens (1975) 84 and 106); condemnation does not deter the next governor.
CHAERIPPUS likewise is a typical Greek name which might belong to an accuser
of these governors, a delegate of the provincial concilium (Brunt l.c. 217).
PRAECONEM An auctioneer; 3.33, 7.6.
PANNIS He has no decent clothes left.
CIRCUMSPICE Thes. s.v. 1171.32.
97 FUROR with the infinitive 1.92, 14.136.
NAULUM This word appears here for the first time in Latin; it became domesticated, since it left Romance derivatives (W. Meyer-Lbke Roman. Etymol.
Wrterb.3 (19305) s.v.). Hesychius (2 p. 698.26 Latte) and Et. Magn. gloss the
word with reference to the fee paid to Charon (cf. 3.267), but they probably have
in mind Aristoph. Frogs 270; it cannot be proved that it could be used in this sense
without a reference to Charon in the context, as at Apul. Met. 6.18.
Plut. An Virtus Doceri Possit 2.439e shows that perdere naulum was
a clich, which in that passage means waste the fare. Juvenal might thus mean
that Chaerippus may waste his passage-money to Rome, but POST OMNIA (sc.
perdita cf. 11.42; for OMNIA = everything else cf. on 2.164) makes me think that
he has altered the meaning of the clich to lose the fare; Chaerippus may spend
everything and not have left his passage-money back home from Rome. For the
slowness of procedure cf. Brunt l.c. 219.
98 IDEM GEMITUS Plural, as the metre shows.
VULNUS sociorum vulnera Cic. De Imp. Pomp. 66.

SATIRE EIGHT351

NEQUE Cf. 3.79; elsewhere Juvenal uses it only before vowels (ipse 3.110; enim,
see on 15.107).
99 FLORENTIBUS tum cum Sicilia florebat (Cic. 2 Verr. 4.46 in a similar context.) |[400]
100 PLENA DOMUS Cic. 2 Verr. 2.35; ACERVS 6.364.
101 On the purple dye of Sparta and Cos see Blmner3 50 and 81, Charlesworth
125, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 2.18.7, RE purpura 20078 and Schnecke 610;
perhaps Prop. 2.1.5 speaks of Cois coccis (so Lachmann). Cf. S. M. Sherwin-White
Ancient Cos (1978) 383.
CONCHYLIA Purple robes (3.81, Pliny NH 22.3). Cf. Cic. 2 Verr. 2.176, 4.59.
1024 These are the stock masters in their genres, and there are many lists like
this. Myron and Polyclitus (3.217, q.v. for plunder of statues) both worked mainly
in bronze, but Juvenal is here thinking of the marble statues of the latter.
PHIDIACUM He cannot write Phdae to match the surrounding genitives, cf.
Fordyce on Catull. 44.10 and on Aen. 7.1.
EBUR Of his chryselephantine work (not many examples of which are likely to
have been in private houses); cf. Mart. 9.24.2, Stat. Silv. 4.6.27.
VIVEBAT existed and was life-like, a word of compressed sense, of which the
second implication is an example of the commonplace referred to on 55; cf. e.g.
Mart. 3.35 (of Phidias), the long series of epigrams on Myrons cow AP 9.71342,
and the travesty in Petron. 52.1; Oltramare REL 19, 1941, 88, Bmer Hermes 80,
1952, 1212.
LABOR Cf. Mentoreos labores Mart. 4.39.5; ibid. 8.51.1, 9.44.2, 14.95.2 etc.; cf.
Thes. s.v. 794.48.
MENTORE i.e. argento a Mentore caelato; the same metonymy Mart. 11.11.5, cf.
Nestora Juv. 12.128.
105 The line is unmetrical and has not been satisfactorily emended. The corruption plainly lies in HINC, which is importunately combined with INDE
INDE (meaning a sociis florentibus et modo victis). Lachmann suggested dehinc,
but the word is not used by Juvenal. Best so far is Leos proposal (Hermes 45, 1910,
51 n. 1) atque inhi<ans>; hinc will then be an attempt under the influence of inde
to emend inhi after ans had been lost before ant. For the resultant rhythm cf.
15.143. However inhians would be better with the support of e.g. a dative. Dolbella
is presumably transmitted correctly; the quantity is not elsewhere directly attested, but CIL 12.3232 has Dolbellae with an apex.
DOLABELLA might refer to Cn. Cornelius (RE no. 35, Broughton 2.80) Dolabella, condemned in 78 B.C. for extortion in Cilicia 8079 B.C., or to another man
of the same name (RE no. 134) prosecuted but not condemned in 77 B.C. for extortion in Macedonia (Badian PBSR 33, 1965, 48); Rupertis conjecture removes the
ambiguity, but see on Catuli 2.146. In any case the whole line is aimed at governors
who do not live up to their noble families. |[401]

352A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ANTONIUS C. Antonius (RE no. 19) (Hybrida) prosecuted in 76 B.C. for plundering Greece as a prefect of Sulla in 84 and condemned in 59 for plundering
Macedonia in 62 (Broughton 2.61 and 175). refers to the extortions of M. Antonius (RE no. 29) Creticus (cf. on 38) in his campaign against the pirates; but he was
not a provincial governor.
106 VERRES 2.26, 3.53; SACRILEGUS Cic. 2 Verr. 1.9 and 47, 5.4 and 188 (because of his robberies from temples).
ALTIS They had to be lofty (no other meaning is possible) since otherwise
their holds would not have been large enough to contain all the booty. Verres had
a ship built for the purpose, 2 Verr. 4.1719, 5.446.
107 A double oxymoron. SPOLIA would normally be shown in a triumphal
procession, not OCCULTA (this word is not to be connected with navibus).
PLURES DE PACE (i.e. de pacatis, as Mart. 12.9.2 pax peregrina = peregrini pacati;
for DE see on 15.47) quam alii de bellantibus. This peace is like war, the provincials
(socii 99) are treated as hostes whose lands have been captured (109); cf. vulnus 98,
provinciarum spolia Pliny NH 9.117; Libyci quid mira tributi / obsequia et missum
media de pace triumphum / laudem? Stat. Silv. 1.4.83 (but not of extortion).
OCCULT SPOLIA Juvenals only instance of such a scansion (the converse at
5.45). For cases in other poets (some to be emended) see L. Mller 390, Hoenigs
wald TAPA 80, 1949, 2768 (add perhaps Il. Lat. 453).
108 NUNC is contrasted with tunc 100. SOCIIS sc. sunt.
GREX EQUARUM Cic. 2 Verr. 1.28, 2.20.
109 PATER ARMENTI (cf. Petron. 133 v. 14 and maritus Juv. 3.91) presumably
refers to both the bull and the stallion.
CAPTO (cf. on 107) Cic. 2 Verr. 2.46 ex illa domo capta et oppressa.
ERIPIETUR Because the boves and equae have already gone.
110 LARES The Roman term is applied to the cults of the provincials cf. 14.320.
Roman statuettes of the Lares would usually be of little value (see on 12.87),
whence IPSI; but sometimes they did have a certain value (Tertull. Apol. 13, Ad
Nat. 1.10.20; those of Trimalchio were naturally of silver, Petron. 29.8).
11112 AEDICULA (see Friedlaender on Petron. l.c., Commodian Instr. 1.20.3,
RE s.v. 446, DE aedes 140b) and UNICUS (Ulpian Dig. 1.18.6.5 ne tenuis vitae homines sub praetextu adventus officiorum vel militum, lumine unico vel brevi supellectili ad aliorum usus translatis, iniuriis vexentur praeses provinciae providebit)
are both excellent and add to the pathos of the picture. The deletion of 11112 also
leaves the transition from 110 to 113 abrupt, and forsitan weakens the clause to
which it is now attached (though Housmans incompletely quoted parallels for the
|[402] position of this word are not quite fair; cf. 1.150); at least it should be punctuated despicias: merito. In BICS 13, 1966, 40 I have proposed to read something like:

deus unicus. haec retinentes
pro summis (nam sunt haec maxima) despicias tu

SATIRE EIGHT353
forsitan.

Only by such an emendation can the abruptness of the transition in 112 be eliminated. Cf. rebus in summis minimisque 11.36.
113 IMBELLIS RHODIOS 6.296; cf. Stratonicus ap. Athen. 8.352bc.
UNCTAM With unguenta on the hair of banqueteers (9.128).
CORINTHON For its luxury see Otto s.v. and RE suppl. 4.1035; cf. the verb
(Schn.Leutsch Paroemiogr. 2.180 on Macar. 5.26) and the proverb
. The reputation of the old Corinth
(Cic. De Rep. 2.78) which perished in 146 B.C. remained with the new foundation
of Julius Caesar.
The punctuation should be this: merito (quid gentis?): 116 is preceded by an
adversative asyndeton indicated by the colon after 115. Cf. Sen. Med. 922 placuit
hoc poenae genus / meritoque placuit.
114 Resin like pitch (9.14) was used for depilation (17), cf. 11.157, Pliny NH
14.123, 29.26; Graecatim depilari Tertull. De Pallio 4.1; SHA 8.8.5; a long tirade
Clem. Alex. Paed. 3.3.15 sqq. (cf. on 2.17).
CRURA LEVIA (contrasted with horrida 116) = tota gens cruribus levibus, cf.
on 16.24. To depilate the legs goes too far, Sen. Ep. 114.14, Ovid AA 1.506, Epictet.
3.1.42, Fronto p. 122, Philostr. Vit. Apollon. 4.27, Lucian De Salt. 5, Dio Chrys.
33.63. Contrast 9.15.
116 Spain and Gaul are valentissima imperii pars Tac. Agr. 24, Hist. 3.53, and
Spain is horrida provincia Val. Max. 9.1.5; Martial contrasts himself as a rough
Spaniard with an effeminate Corinthian 10.65. There had been rebellions in Gaul
headed by Sacrovir and Florus in A.D. 21 and by Vindex in A.D. 68.
AXIS clime, region 6.470, 14.42 and often; cf. orbis 2.108.
117 LATUS Stat. Silv. 4.4.63 etc.; shore.
MESSORIBUS ILLIS i.e. the Africans of 120; cf. 5.11819. This is from Varro RR
2 pr. 3 manus movere maluerunt in THEATRO ET CIRCO frumentum locamus
qui nobis advehat qui SATURI fiamus EX AFRICA; cf. saturare 14.166, Mart. 6.86.5
Libycas messes, Tac. Hist. 1.4 plebs sordida et circo ac theatris sueta. On popular
enthusiasm for the circus and theatre see 3.223, 10.80 (with panem), 11.53, Carcopino 2058, SG 2.11 = 2.13; but Balsdon1 267 sqq. and in Hommages M. Renard
(1969) 2.57 warns against exaggeration. For the import of grain from Africa see
RE frumentum 132, Charlesworth 143, ES 4.39, |[403] Loane 14 n. 14, Tac. Hist. 1.73,
Ann. 12.43.2; Commodus built a special fleet for the purpose, SHA 7.17.7. URBEM
would be better printed with a capital.
118 VACANTEM Proleptic, ut vacare possit. The punctuation should be this:
vacantem (quanta Afros?);
119 DIRAE Because it would cause a famine at Rome; cf. 13.106. Cf. Phaedr.
2.3.6 culpae praemium.
120 NUPER About 20 years ago; see the introduction to Two.

354A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

MARIUS See on 1.49.

TENUIS Proleptic, making them poor (3.163, 7.80); hardly that he paradoxically robs those who are already poor.
DISCINXERIT Money was usually carried in the belt (RE marsupium; cf.
Apul. Met. 7.6 incincta), and Marius is a cut-purse, sector zonarius (Plaut. Trin.
862, i.e. ; cf. discinxi Plaut. Truc. 957 in the context). Thus Juvenal
adds an extra meaning to Vergils discinctos Afros (Aen. 8.724, cf. Livy 35.11.7, Sil.
It. 2.56 and 3.2356), referring to their loose flowing robes; they are so because
Marius has stolen their belts!
AFROS The messores illi (referred to by INDE) are given another name within the same sentence instead of simply a demonstrative pronoun. Cf. 6.116 sqq.,
10.1612, 13.21516, Verg. Aen. 4.912, Hor. Odes 4.8.224, Epode 3.10.12, Tib.
1.1.1718, Prop. 2.14.56, Ovid Tristia 1.9.278; cf. on 220.
1234 These lines are very tautologous, but both SCUTUM GLADIUMQUE
RELINQUES (where defensive and offensive weapons are symbolised, as at Cic.
In Pis. 73, Pro Caec. 62 and 64, and RELINQUES you will not take as booty correlates with TOLLAS) and SPOLIATIS ARMA SUPERSUNT (which best fits the
description as a sententia in 125) are excellent in themselves. The difficulty lies in
ET IACULUM ET GALEAM, another pair of offensive and defensive weapons,
which in Housmans view would destroy the symbolism. I am not certain that this
is necessarily so, though I agree that Juvenal should not have written the words,
and incline to think the text sound; for over-long lists in Juvenal cf. p. 37.
The Romans did not disarm the provincials (Brunt Phoenix 29, 1975, 260).
125 MODO Cf. on 9.124; QUOD PROPOSUI Sen. Dial. 10.10.1.
SENTENTIA An epigram (14.205), spoken for effect; cf. Plut. Quomodo Adu
lator 14.57f , De Liberis Educ. 8.5c. Nothing could better fit
Quintilians definition (8.5.2) of sententiae as lumina praecipue in clausulis posita than spoliatis arma supersunt.
126 VOBIS Pontice et Pontici similes; contrast with tibi 127. Cf. index pronouns,
KS 1.60, HS 14 and 433. |[404]
CREDITE SIBYLLAE Cf. 6.554, Otto Sibylla 3; similar expressions Ovid AA
2.541, Cato ap. Pliny NH 29.14, Sen. Contr. 1 pr. 9.
FOLIUM Verg. Aen. 3.444 sqq., 6.74 (where see Norden).
127 COHORS COMITUM Cf. 3.47 and in a similar context Cic. Ad Q. Fr. 1.1.12;
young men chosen by the governor who would go out with him to gain experience
(see W. T. Arnold Roman Provincial Administration3 (1914) 68, Fordyce on Catull.
10.10, Hellegouarch 57 sqq.).
SANCTA Cf. 24.
TRIBUNAL VENDIT i.e. decreta; Sen. De Ben. 1.9.5, Ovid Am. 1.10.40.
128 ACERSECOMES A puer capillatus (cf. 3.186 and contrast 11.149; RE deliciae 2437.62, Blmner1 271) like Apollo, cf. Bromius 6.377 and RAC Effeminatus 628.

SATIRE EIGHT355

The Greek word as usual indicates contempt.

CONIUGE Under the Republic she would have stayed at home; this was
changed by Tiberius, and thereafter there were cases of extortion by the wives of
governors. Cf. Balsdon1 237 and 2 60, Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 3.9.19, Koestermann on Tac. Ann. 3.33 (pp. 4823), H. Pflaum Les Procurateurs questres (1950)
298307, Marshall G & R2 22, 1975, 11 and Ancient Society 6, 1975, 113 and 119 sqq.
Cf. Mart. 2.56.
129 CONVENTUS (sc. cunctos; for the see index word-order) assize districts; see RE (11739) and DE (1190) s.v., Marshall Phoenix 20, 1966, 232,
Burton JRS 65, 1975, 92.
130 CURVIS UNGUIBUS 13.169; the Harpy Celaeno has uncae manus at Verg.
Aen. 3.211 sqq., i.e. she is .
CELAENO An identification instead of a comparison, cf. on 9.126, 14.246. See
Otto Harpyia, who quotes Sidon. Apoll. Ep. 5.7.4 as a proverbial expression of
rapacity; Nachtrge 104; Plut. Lucull. 7.7 in a similar context.
131 TUM marks the beginning of the apodosis; tu (see the apparatus) would
be pointless.
PICO Son of Saturn and father of Faunus, first of the Laurentine kings; RE s.v.
1214, Verg. Aen. 7.48 and 189 sqq. For such genealogies cf. SG 1.110 = 1.120, Mooney
on Suet. Vesp. 12.
LICET i.e. per me licet, for all I care you are welcome to.
NUMERES Cf. Verg. Georg. 4.209, Ovid Her. 8.48, Gow on Theocr. 17.27.
ALTA Cf. 40.
132 OMNEM TITANIDA PUGNAM The whole battle-array of the Titans who
fought against Zeus; Prometheus too was a Titan, but he supported Zeus. In fact
he made the first men out of clay (14.35), so he |[405] could not be ancestor of them;
alternatively, if he was the ancestor of men, he was like Adam ancestor of all men,
not just the nobiles (cf. 2725). The Titans regarded Zeus and the Olympians as
new gods (Aesch. PV passim; Hes. Theog. 424 and West on 486).
IPSUM Not just an ordinary Titan, but the chief one; it also underlines the
absurdity of the claim (see above).
134 LIBRO e.g. Hesiods Theogony. But the line is probably spurious, an intended replacement for 1313; it is an anticlimax, weak in thought and expression
and breaking the rhythmical flow. Moreover the form sumito is suspicious (see
on 9.105).
136 VIRGAS The fasces of the lictors; on their use for inflicting punishment on
provincials see Strachan-Davidson 1.126.
FRANGIS Cf. on 247; not personally, cf. on 16.13.
SI TE DELECTANT Carelessly repeated from 1312; cf. on 16.9.
137 LASSO LICTORE Cf. 6.484; ablative absolute, cf. 9.150.
138 CONTRA TE STARE Cf. 3.290; Pers. 5.96, Mart. 1.53.12.

356A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

1401 Cf. Cic. De Off. 2.44.

CONSPECTIUS = magis conspicuum; cf. Thes. s.v. 497.19, Naegelsbach 72b.
142 QUO Cf. 9; 14.135, 15.61. Housman interprets the line according to his
punctuation thus, quo mihi te <versantem> in templis avitis et ante statuam
paternam, si falsarius es? quo, si adulter?, for the participle supplied comparing
Manil. 4.634, where see his note. Others omit the comma after tabellas, so that
the adverbial phrases go with signare. To this Housman raises two objections. (1)
That quo mihi te would then imply that nature had created Ponticus for the sake
of Juvenal. I do not fully grasp this objection, but so far as I understand it, it seems
to press the idiom too hard; Housmans own example appears very similar, Sen.
Contr. 1.2.1 quo mihi sacerdotem cuius precaria est castitas? (2) That one would
not forge wills in crowded public places (see below). But exaggeration must be
allowed to a satirist, and ante admirably indicates shamelessness, as at 1011 and
156. I therefore follow the second interpretation, especially as wills were often witnessed in a temple (Mart. 10.70.7) and kept there (Fronto p. 12; Vidal Rev. Hist. de
Droit 43, 1965, 550). The forger seals a false will in the very temple or in front of the
statue and substitutes it for the true one (cf. 1.67).
143 STATUAM TRIUMPHALEM Under the empire triumphs were only permitted to members of the imperial family, but statues could be granted to victorious generals (RE triumphus 499, RSV 2.592 n. 1, Mommsen1 450, Peine Berl. Stud.
2 (1885) 319, A. E. Gordon Q. Veranius (Univ. Calif. Publ. Class. Archaeol. 2.5, 1952)
305). Statues of all the triumphatores were set up by Augustus in a portico in his
|[406] forum (cf. 1.129, SG 2.294 = 3.75; Peine denies that these were properly called
triumphales, but see Ann. Epigr. 1972 no. 174 = Reynolds JRS 61, 1971, 1423 statuas
ei ponendas triumfales in foro Augusti). But perhaps the statues referred to in 3 and
at 7.125 could also informally be called triumphales, or Juvenal may be thinking of
statues in the temples.
SANTONICO CUCULLO Mart. 14.128.1 (cf. 1.153.5); see on 9.28 sqq.; cu
cullus is probably a Gallic word (Niedermann Mus. Helv. 7, 1950, 1523). For such
hoods (to be seen on a relief from Trves, Bossert and Zschietzschmann 209) cf.
3.170, RE and DS s.v., Blmner1 218, Marquardt 568; naturally they were useful
for disguise on such occasions, cf. 6.118 and 330, Hor. Serm. 2.7.55 sqq. etc. (W.
Deonna De Tlesphore au moine bourru (1955) 13 and 17). For the opposite aperto
capite see Blmner1 228 n. 4.
VELAS ADOPERTA After Verg. Aen. 3.405, cf. Catull. 64.64; a common type
of pleonasm with participles, cf. 7.84 (HS 797, KS 2.572).
146 sqq. Unless an otherwise unknown Lateranus was consul at some time
under Nero, Juvenal has here made a bad historical mistake. He appears to be
referring to Plautius (RE no. 45, PIR1 P 354) Lateranus (cf. 10.17), who was consul
designate in A.D. 65 but did not act as consul because he was executed for complicity in Pisos conspiracy. Tacitus (Ann. 15.53) describes him as corpore ingens,

SATIRE EIGHT357

typically using a more elevated expression than Juvenals blunt pinguis; though it
must be admitted that the picture of this man given by Tacitus is quite different
from that of Juvenal. Juvenal may here be acquitted of deliberate distortion of
historical fact; but he must be convicted of willingness to embroider it without
checking the accuracy of his statements.
To drive oneself instead of being driven (cf. on 1.61) was undignified (transport
workers were despised, Blmner1 61314), but hardly the moral scandal Juvenal
considers it; cf. p. 23.
IPSE, IPSE An indignant epanalepsis; cf. p. 32.
146 The main roads out of Rome were lined with tombs, cf. on 1.171, 5.55.
147 CARPENTO 9.132; a two-wheeled, two-horse light carriage.
148 SUFFLAMINE The brake, 16.50; RE s.v.
MULIO CONSUL Cf. mulae 7.181 and for the oxymoron (cf. 1989) see on
4.116; for the contempt felt for muliones, most of whom were slaves (Blmner1
465) see Blmner l.c. on 146 sqq.
149 LUNA OCULOS 6.311 luna teste, Prop. 2.9.41 sidera sunt testes, Verg.
Aen. 9.429 conscia sidera testor (Mart. 9.22.15), Val. Fl. 8.50 sidera vident, Stat.
Ach. 1.6434. TESTES may be either nominative |[407] or accusative; in the latter
case there may either be an apposition or the noun may be used adjectivally, cf.
2612 and index nouns.
153 IAM (cf. 6.215 and on 3.206) SENIS His age makes the friend more likely to
be a stickler for respectability, so that it would be only decent in L. to pass without
recognising him Duff.
VIRGA ADNUET salute with the switch cf. Apul. Flor. 21.57, Dio Cass.
77.10.2; in a different sense 3.317.
MANIPLOS sc. feni.
155 INTEREA While still consul he cannot give full rein to his inclinations.
The sacrifice described is that of the feriae Latinae (RE s.v.), at which the consuls
sacrificed to Iuppiter (RE s.v. 1134) Latiaris on the Alban mount; Dion. Hal. AR
4.49 mentions sheep and bulls.
LANATAS Palladius 12.13.3; cf. virgata [Sen.] Herc. Oet. 146 = tigris, cornutus
Accius 494 = aries (conjectured also by Clark at Amm. Marc. 23.4.8), auritulus
Phaedr. 1.11.6 = asinus, barbatus ibid. 4.9.10 = hircus; cf. pecus lanatum Colum.
11.2.33, Pliny NH 17.188, and Thes. laniger 930.55. For such animal kennings cf. I.
Waern (1951) 38, Bornmann Athen.2 30, 1952, 85, R. Renehan Studies
in Greek Texts (1976) 39, West on Hes. Op. 524, Hollis on Ovid Met. 8.376, and
below on 13.232. The occurrences in Palladius and Phaedrus suggest a rustic origin, and Waern 45 identifies this as the folk-tale; it is noticeable that quite a few
examples are found in religious formulae (note that the slightly different use at
15.11 is also in a religious context), though this is not likely to be the origin of such
(Waern 60). Their primitive character and oracular vagueness make them

358A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

suitable for religious use.

ROBUM is also a religious archaism. Paul. Fest. 264 (cf. Mllers remarks p.
267) explains it as ruber, rufus; he regards robur, robustus (which here gives
as alternative meanings) as derivatives. Cf. robius (Gell. 4.6.2); . Josephson Die
Columella-Handschriften (1955) 90. Reddish bulls had become legitimate at this
ceremony (as at others; RE Stier 2516.19, cf. 67), Arnob. 2.68 (rufulos); cf. Latte 144,
Armstrong 35.
156 NUMAE The father of Roman religion, 6.343.
157 EPONAM The goddess of muleteers; a Gallic name, cf. on 66 and the proper names Eporedia, Eporedorix, Eponina (Holder 1.1446). A picture of Epona in a
stable, Apul. Met. 3.27. See RE s.v. and suppl. 3.436, Wissowa 377 and 867, Toynbee 197, SG 3.150 = 3.182, R. Magnen pona (1953), J. de Vries Keltische Religion
(1961) 123. To swear by her in this solemn ceremony is an insult to Jupiter (emphasised by ANTE; cf. 9, 11, 144); cf. the oath by at Aristoph. Clouds
83. |[408]
158 SED indicates that Juvenal is turning from the horse-mania of L. to his
fondness for low dives; but is too strong, it is rather (see index conjunctions
and KS 2.767, adding e.g. Livy 9.2.7). However 15862 are hardly happy, since the
main clause should tell us something done by L.
PERVIGILES See on 3.275, 15.43 and Kleberg 120.
POPINAS For their poor reputation see Kleberg 93 sqq., Balsdon1 153, SG 1.292
= 1.350; popino is a reproach.
INSTAURARE The word means to renew (e.g: pugnam 15.74), and hence
(because the least informality made a repetition necessary) to celebrate solemnly, esp. of the feriae Latinae: e.g. Cic. Ad Q. Fr. 2.4.4 Latinae instaurantur. Here
it is generally translated to visit; but surely Juvenal is using it in exactly the
same sense as Cicero above; and popinas is added (as in 172)
with good ironical effect, where we should expect Latinas. It may be noted that
pervigiles might be applied to the festival; cf. Lucan 5.402 Duff. The feriae Latinae
(see RE s.v. 2215.66) were prone to instauration, cf. C. Werner De Feriis Latinis
(1888) 38.
159 SYROPHOENIX See RE and Syria 15523; cf. ,
, . Cf. the Syrian cauponae listed by Kleberg 77, who also
mentions a possible Jew at Pompeii (and at 143 n. 35 eliminates a supposed Jewish caupo). Syrophoenicians were noted for obsequiousness (Eunapius Vit. Soph.
16.2.2), a quality desirable in inn-keepers (cf. on 161); they were also considered
avaricious (Lucil. 497) and generally despised (Lucian Concil. Deor. 4).
UDUS This indicates excessive oiliness better than unctus, though Sidonius
seems to have read the latter (Ep. 9.13 manus uncta suco amomi). H reads unus.
AMOMO See on 4.108.
160 IDYMAEAE PORTAE must be a contemptuous name given to the Porta

SATIRE EIGHT359

Capena with the settlement of Jews beside it; cf. Three init. (so Owen CR1 7, 1893,
402; Ullmann 277). This explains why he is incola and not accola; Porta Capena
was the name given to the first of the Augustan regions of Rome (RE regiones 482;
O. Richter Topographie der Stadt Rom2 (1901) 371; PlatnerAshby 445).
161 The form of 15961 is objectionable, since with such epanalepsis there
should not be a new finite verb (cf. 6.345). Housman, who saw this, thought that
a line is missing after 160, but salutans (Leo) is preferable, as obvia currit is an
excellent verb for Cyane.
HOSPITIS mine host, cf. Kleberg 12; for the blandishments of inn-keepers cf.
Apul. Apol. 87, Dio Cass. 46.6.4, Plut. De Vitioso Pudore 8.532b. |[409]
ADFECTU See on 15.150.
dominum regemque salutas Mart. 4.83.5, cf. Citroni on 1.112.1; for dominus as a
title of respect cf. Thes. s.v. 1925.8, SG 4.81 = 4.82, and on 5.137, and for rex cf. on
1.136.
162 CYANE Presumably she had a dark complexion; for the name cf. Thes.
onom. s.v. 778.70.
SUCCINCTA For ease of movement; cf. 4.24 and Hor. Serm. 2.6.107.
163 DEFENSOR CULPAE Cf. [Cic.] Ad Fam. 10.7. in culpa defensorem.
DICET An occupatio, cf. 1.150 and p. 31.
FECIMUS IUVENES Cf. Plaut. Bacch. 410 and 1079, Mart. 4.78.9 and esp.
Ter. Ad. 10010. The locus de indulgentia (cf. 167) became a commonplace of rhetoric (e.g. Cic. Pro Cael. 39 sqq.); note especially Sen. Contr. 2.6.11 id facio quod
pater meus fecit cum iuvenis esset.
164 ESTO A concessio, cf. 6.222.
DESISTI Hor. Epist. 1.14.36 nec lusisse pudet, sed non incidere lusum.
165 TURPITER AUDES 6.97.
166 CUM PRIMA BARBA Cf. on 4.103.
168 THERMARUM CALICES Baths regularly had bars attached to them, Kleberg 512, Blmner1 435.
INSCRIPTA LINTEA Awnings in front of the entrance with advertisements
on them, Kleberg 115.
169 i.e. The Euphrates and the Tigris; both rise in Armenia and the former for
a long distance is the border of Syria. The four rivers of 16971 are the boundaries
of the empire (cf. 51); Sen. Dial. 10.4.5, Stat. Silv. 5.1.89, Tac. Ann. 4.5, Joseph. BJ
3.107, Appian pr. 4 similarly list Rhine, Danube, Euphrates (Tac. Ann. 1.9.5 amnibus longinquis saeptum imperium). All of them saw action under Nero; Corbulos
campaigns in Armenia (and the Jewish rebellion in 66, after the death of Lateranus), disturbances in Moesia about 62 (CAH 10.775 and 806; Zawadzki Parola del
Passato 30, 1975, 59), the revolt of Vindex in 68 (this too after the death of L.); but
it is not likely that Juvenal had specific references in mind.
171 HAEC AETAS Lateranus being in his prime.

360A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

MITTE sc. legatum; for the see index word-order.

OSTIA To embark for his foreign command.
172 LEGATUM The usual title of the governor of an imperial province being
legatus Augusti pro praetore.
POPINA In fact Nero himself was notoriously fond of popinae. MAGNA
shows that is right in thinking popina put for castris or the
like (cf. on 158).
173 IACENTEM 1.136; PERCUSSORE cf. the iuvenis luxuriae popinalis of Apul.
Met. 8.1.
174 NAUTIS The regularly gets a bad press because |[410] sailors on shore leave tend to go on a spree; Mayor collects many references, to which
add Eur. Iph. Aul. 913, Aristoph. Frogs 1075 (); in an inn Plut. De San.
Tuend. 16.130e. The inn of course is in Rome, not in Ostia. See also on 10.20.
FURIBUS AC FUGITIVIS An alliterative pair (see Wlfflin 262).
175 CARNIFICES Minions of the IIIviri capitales who were particularly charged
with punishments of slaves; identical with the tortores of 6.480 and O 29, 14.21. See
Plaut. Capt. 597, RE s.v., Mommsen1 1.3278 and 2 915. They are associated with
undertakers as contemptible by Mart. 2.61.34; cf. on 3.32.
FABROS SANDAPILARUM or ; they made rude biers
for the poor (RE sandapila, Blmner1 490, Marquardt 356).
176 RESUPINATI ebrii, turpia patientis ; cf. 3.112, 6.126, Apul. Met. 8.29, Catull. 28.9.
TYMPANA GALLI 6.515.
177 It is Liberty Hall, cf. on 5.3 and 161; aequa libertas Livy 34.54.5 (of seats in
the theatre).
COMMUNIA POCULA Cf. 6.O.14; 5.37 sqq. and 127 sqq.
LECTUS An inn at Pompeii advertises hospitium hic locatur, triclinium cum
tribus lectis (CIL 4.807 = ILS 6036).
178 CUIQUAM ULLI Cf. 12.130.
MENSA REMOTIOR An individual table set apart; mensa communis Pliny
Pan. 49.56 of Trajan contrasted with Domitian.
179 For the addiction of slaves to popinae see 11.81 and Colum. 1.8.2; cf. Horaces
bailiff, Epist. 1.14.21.
180 To send a slave to the country was a punishment; Blmner1 290, Marquardt 179 and add Plaut. Most. 18, Ter. Ph. 250, Quintil. 2.8.7.
LUCANOS The name Lucania is not found until Horace; before that it was
usual to speak of Lucani (cf. Cic. Tusc. 1.89), and even afterwards some authors
continued to do so (Wlfflin ALL 12, 1902, 332 and 13, 1904, 414).
TUSCA ERGASTULA Mart. 9.22.4 et sonet innumera compede Tuscus ager; on
ergastula cf. 6.151, 14.24 and on 11.80 (RE s.v., Blmner1 550, Marquardt 180, White1
361 and 370, Duncan-Jones 323). Both Lucania and to a lesser extent Etruria were

SATIRE EIGHT361

depopulated areas with many latifundia, in the former case mainly devoted to
animal ranching and in the latter cultivated by chain-gangs of slaves (Sen. Dial.
9.2.13, Nissen 2.118, E. Magaldi Lucania Romana (1947) 61, Yeo TAPA 79, 1948,
3023, White1 6970, 74, 84); but in Etruria at least this was now changing (Pliny
Ep. 3.19.7 nec ipse usquam vinctos habeo nec ibi quisquam with Sherwin-White).
181 TROIUGENAE Cf. 56 and on 1.100; e.g. Catiline (231). |[411]
182 Cf. 4.1314, 11.12 and for CERDONI on 4.153.
VOLESOS or VOLUSOS Volesus Valerius (RE no. 89) came to Rome with
Titus Tatius (Dion. Hal. AR 2.46, Plut. Popl. 1 and Numa 5) and was the ancestor
of P. Valerius Poplicola, whose father still carried the name (Livy 1.58.6; CIL 12 p.
202 no. xlii = 6.1327). It survived as a cognomen of the Valerii as late as Augustan
times (RE no. 270, PIR1 V 96). Cf. RE Volusus, Schulze LEG 106, Reichmuth 25,
Kajanto 178, Chase HSCP 8, 1897, 147. Poplicola is naturally associated with the
liberator Brutus. For the combination of generalising plural with singular cf. on
11.91; but perhaps we should think of the two brothers of Poplicola also (RE nos.
74 and 243).
DECEBUNT will be found to befit; cf. on 1.126.
184 EXEMPLIS A technical term of rhetoric; cf. 14.322 and p. 30.
185 VOCEM LOCASTI Cf. 6.380.
DAMASIPPE A name of the Iunii and Licinii, with a few other occurrences
(Thes. onom. s.v. 26.4); this bearer of it cannot be identified. For nobles on stage
cf. RE Mimos 1750; Tac. Ann. 14.1415; Neros grandfather, perhaps praetor in 19
B.C., produced noble actors (Suet. 4).
186 SIPARIO The curtain which served as a back-drop for a mime; cf. the English use of foot-lights, Sen. Dial. 9.11.8 cothurno, non tantum sipario, Tertull.
Adv. Val. 13.2 prima tragoediae scaena, alia autem trans siparium coturnatio est,
OGIS 510.6 . See R.E. s.v. and Mimos 1747, Beare 154 and 2704, Bieber
180 and 205, Wiemken 201, Bonaria1 2 p. 235.
CATULLI On this mime-writer cf. 13.111, Mart. 5.30.3; Bonaria1 p. 111 and 2 p.
133; on his PHASMA (The Phantom) Watt Hermes 83, 1955, 4978. Perhaps the
apparition of the ghost made the characters scream (CLAMOSUM) .
187 LAUREOLUS (RE s.v.) was a highwayman (Joseph. AJ 19.94 = 19.1.13),
probably merely a fictitious character, whose crucifixion was represented in the
mime named after him, also by Catullus. Mart. Spect. 7 speaks of a criminal who
was made to play the part and actually killed, non falsa pendens in cruce Laureolus;
Juvenal is thinking of the same occasion and regards Lentulus as no better than a
common criminal (DIGNUS cf. 15.17).
LENTULUS A Cornelius; 6.80.
VELOX Juvenal is attracted by the oxymoron with Lentulus, which looks like
a diminutive of lentus; the same joke Cic. Ad Att. 10.11.2. But this particular mime
required agility (Tertull. Adv. Val. 14 (Enthymesis) nec habens supervolare crucem

362A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

quia nullum Catulli Laureolum fuerit exercitata); Suet. Cal. 57 speaks of actor proripiens se ruina.
1889 NEC IGNOSCAS Cf. 3.302; POPULO cf. Tac. Ann. 14.14.2. |[412]
FRONS (Thes. 1358.7) DURIOR (Thes. 2308.39) cheek; cf. ferrea frons Pliny
Pan. 35 and often os durum (note the contrast with mollis frons at Quintil. 6.4.11).
For the forehead as the seat of shame cf. 2.8, 11.204, 13.242.
190 SEDET sits quiet; so often. Cf. Fronto p. 77 populo R. spectante (sc. Acilium;
on 4.99).
TRISCURRIA A word probably invented by Juvenal with the use of the intensive prefix tri- (cf. RAC Drei 293, Marx on Plaut. Rud. 734); Priscians mention
(GLK 3.480.10) of the singular probably refers to this passage. For scurrae cf. on
4.31, 13.111.
PATRICIORUM Probably simply equivalent to nobilium (see on 1.24), though
in fact the Cornelii, Fabii and Aemilii were patrician.
191 PLANIPEDES Barefoot, wearing neither cothurnus nor soccus; mime-actors are excalceati Sen. Ep. 8.8. Cf. RE Mimos 1747, Bonaria1 2 p. 226, Wiemken
207, Beare 370 n. 23.
FABIOS Cf. 14, 2.146, 6.266; Dio Cass. 61.17.4 in a list of noble families thus
disgraced by Nero.
MAMERCORUM i.e. Aemiliorum (cf. 21), who were said to be descended
from Mamercus, a son of Pythagoras or Numa, and kept his name as a praenomen
and cognomen (RE s.v. and Aemilius 5434 and 5689).
ALAPAS A standing feature in the mime was the beating bestowed on the stupidus (cf. 197), a stock character who played such parts as a deceived husband, cf.
Choricius Apol. Mim. 146, Tertull. De Spect. 23.3, and on 5.171. Cf. also Mart. 5.61.11
o quam dignus eras alapis, Mariane, Latini; as this quotation shows, the meaning
could be in grammar cuffs dealt by the Mamerci (a similar genitive is common
after e.g. vulnus), but Juvenal here certainly means blows inflicted on the M. to
emphasise the degradation.
1924 The following interpretations of this obscure passage deserve attention:
(1) That of Madvig 545, non se vendere dicit, qui iam nulli sint, exstincta hoc
scelere nobilitate illa, sublato genere, nomine paene deleto, ut potius funus suum
et reliquias mortuas tanti generis vendere videantur. On the same lines Lendrum
(CR1 4, 1890, 229) and Duff explain sua funera as their moral suicide, an oxymoron like dignus morte perit (85); after such a disgraceful compliance, they cannot
be said to be living (the further elaborations which Duff and Lendrum add to
Madvigs interpretation are unhappy and can be ignored).
(2) That of Quincey Mnem.4 12, 1959, 139; they sell their ancestry and lineage,
their noble dead. This cannot be extracted from the Latin, and is refuted by Griffith, ibid. 15, 1962, 256.
(3) Griffith himself takes the reference to be to the simulated |[413] crucifixion

SATIRE EIGHT363

in the Laureolus-mime; but Juvenal has left this behind and is here speaking in
quite general terms.
Other explanations are quite clearly mistaken. If the text is sound, Madvig
must be correct, but a strong suspicion must persist that if sua funera is to be
intelligible in this sense, it ought to have more support in the context, which at
85 is quite explicit. However Dobrees proposal munera does not satisfy; perhaps
verbera, which (if spelt ververa) might have been reduced by haplography to vera
and hence nera.
192 QUANTI Literally of their fee (cf. consumptis opibus 185); cf. Tac. Ann.
14.14.4 merces ab eo qui iubere potest vim necessitatis adfert and 3 nobilium famili
arum posteros egestate venales in scaenam deduxit; Hist. 2.62 cautum severe (sc. a
Vitellio) ne equites R. ludo et harena polluerentur priores id principes pecunia ac
saepius vi perpulerant.
193 NULLO COGENTE NERONE Cf. Tac. Ann. 14.14 (on 192) and 20, Dio
Cass. 61.17.3.
194 Mommsens support for the deletion of this line is to be discounted because, misled by funera 192, he took it to refer to gladiatorial shows, not to stage
performances. Juvenal must be stating something that makes their appearance
even more shameful. I take it to be a criticism of their impudence; they appear
even at the main holidays in Rome, where everyone will be present and recognise
them (202 sqq.). At least they could have chosen an obscure festival in a country
town (3.172 sqq.) or a private performance (in hortis Quintil. 3.6.18 and of Nero
Suet. 21.12, Tac. Ann. 15.33, Pliny NH 37.19; for theatres in the gardens of villas cf.
Grimal 279 n. 3). Cf. Tac. Hist. 2.62 (sentence after that quoted on 192) ac pleraque municipia et coloniae aemulabantur corruptissimum quemque adulescentium
pretia illicere.
Since Augustus the management of public shows in circus and theatre, for
which previously the aediles had been responsible, was a duty of the praetors
(6.380, 10.36, 11.195, 14.257); cf. RE praetor 1602, Mommsen1 2.237. He is CELSUS
because he sat in an elevated box (RSV 3.536 n. 2, Bieber 172 (Pompeii); tribunal Suet. Aug. 44, Vitruv. 5.6.7 and perhaps CIL 9.3857); his elevation makes the
degradation of the nobiles below him on the stage yet more striking (s obscure
remark ignobilioris quam ipsi sunt seems to be groping after this point).
LUDIS Abl. of time at the games (KS 1.355, HS 147); cf. Pliny Ep. 7.11.4 praetore
me ludis meis.
195 A deliberate exaggeration; such a blunt choice was not put to anyone.
FINGE TAMEN (5.72) contrasts with nullo cogente Nerone. |[414]
GLADIOS 4.96, 10.123; a deliberation on this choice Epictet. 1.2.12.
196 QUID i.e. utrum (which Juvenal does not use) as often; cf. 10.338 (and
quicquid 344), quisque 1.41, alius 4.138 (q.v.), 6.436, 7.113, 10.150 and see KS 1.648,
655, HS 201, 207, 459.

364A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

SIT = velit esse, as in phrases with tanti est (see on 3.54); the sense might be
expressed by nemini vita tanti est ut sit Duff.
197 THYMELE See on 1.36 and Reynolds CQ1 40, 1946, 823. The jealous husband (cf. 5.43, 6.278) played by the stupidus (cf. on 192 and SG 2.92 = 2.114, RE
stupidus and Mimos 1748, Wiemken 179, Bonaria1 2 p. 236) was a stock role in the
mime (Reynolds 82). ZELOTYPUS (on 6.278) THYMELES jealous husband of T.
must be a theatrical phrase. COLLEGA (a sarcastic use; a noble might be expected
to be collega consulis) may mean that he takes the part normally played by Corinthus (a company might include two stupidi; see RE and Wiemken l.c.), or that the
plot allows for the appearance of two stupidi. The name Corinthus (or -ius; Thes.
onom. s.v. 605.3), like Latinus (1.36, 6.44), indicates servile status (Gordon JRS 14,
1924, 99).
198 shows how present and past blur in Juvenals mind. In 193 he was thinking
of the present day, now he has slipped back to Neronian times. The argument is
a fortiori, cf. 2.65 and p. 30. Cf. Cic. Ad Fam. 1.9.12 quales in re p. principes essent,
tales reliquos solere esse cives with Shackleton Bailey (vol. 1 p. 311).
CITHAROEDO PRINCIPE An oxymoron (cf. 148), in view of Roman contempt for lyre-players (Nepos 15.1.12.1). Cf. 230; Tac. Ann. 15.65 etc. MIMUS NOBILIS is likewise an oxymoron, RE Mimos 1748; cf. Laberius ap. Macrob. Sat. 2.7.3.
199 HAEC ULTRA (cf. 6.190) Tac. Ann. 14.20 quid superesse nisi ut , Sen.
NQ 7.32.3 deinde in similar contexts.
LUDUS The gladiatorial school 6.82, 11.20. On free-born and noble gladiators
see 11.8 (4.95); Balsdon1 290, SG 2.17 and 50 = 2.19 and 61, RE suppl. 3.774, Yavetz
1289. See the list in Dio Cass. 61.17.45 (cf. on 191).
ILLIC in ludo; or perhaps in that respect, in illa re.
2001 GRACCHUM 2.1438. On the murmillones (6.81) see RE s.v., SG 4.176 =
4.264, Colin 364 (and for the word see Frei-Korsunsky 25). FALCE SUPINA refers
to the sica, the short curved sword, of the Thraex (cf. Artemidorus 2.32), for whom
cf. 6.257, RE s.v., SG 4.175 = 4.263. CLIPEO is usually taken to refer to the secutor
(SG l.c. 174 = 262, RE 2 A 2553); but it is odd to identify a gladiator as fighting with
a defensive piece of equipment, and secutores carried a scutum, not a clipeus. Nisbets (233) tentative ET would refer the whole line to the Thraex, and is probably
correct. On these gladiators and their |[415] weapons in general cf. Robert 658. In
any case the point is that these gladiators would all have their faces covered by a
helmet.
202 damnat et odit Ovid Tristia 3.1.8. But SED is an extraordinary use, not
parallelled by 14.117, and the mention of his failure to hide his countenance in
203, elaborated in 204 sqq., is misplaced at this particular point because it fails to
co-ordinate with movet ecce tridentem, which must be linked with 2001. Housman transposed sed damnat et odit and movet ecce tridentem, but damnat followed
in the next line by damnat et odit is unattractive. Nor will it solve the problems to

SATIRE EIGHT365

suppose sed damnat corrupt (one might think of e.g. securus or ardenter, cf. 9.96
ardet et odit). On the whole Hermanns deletion is the best solution.
Gracchus is a retiarius (SG 4.171 = 4.260; Robert l.c. on 200); tridentem = fuscina 2.143. Retiarii wore no helmet (Suet. Claud. 34, Val. Max. 1.7.8).
204 VIBRATA Usually one vibrat telum manu; perhaps we should read librata,
cf. Sen. Ag. 900, [Quintil.] Decl. 1.10.
205 NUDUM Cf. Demosth. 19.287 Cyberion
.
SPECTACULA The spectators seats (6.61) or the spectators themselves (11.193).
206 Cf. 2.144. AGNOSCENDUS recognisable, a use of the gerundive much
developed in Silver Latin (KS 1.733, HS 371, Madvig on Cic. De Fin. 1.6, Naegelsbach 72 b 3).
20710 A very obscure passage. The fundamental point is the identity of the
galerus. (who however also explains it to mean the cap; see below) interprets this
of the shoulder-guard of the retiarius (6.O.11; SG 4.172 = 4.260, RE retiarius 6912,
Colin 35860, figs. 28 and fig. B on p. 382), and he is followed by almost all editors.
But this sense of the word is unattested elsewhere and quite unsuitable; we must
look for a meaning with some relation to its ordinary use (cf. 6.120). Therefore I
follow the interpretation put forward by Colin 357 and Les tudes Class. 23, 1955,
409, after Ruperti and Owen CR1 19, 1905, 354. Gracchus was a Salius (2.1256),
and the galerus is his high (longus) cap, technically called pilleus (RE Salius 1886,
Wissowa 499 and 556 n. 4, Esdaile JRS 1, 1911, 213). Colin suggests that the Salii
could not appear in public without their caps, like the flamen Dialis (who like the
Salii was associated with ancile and trabea; Serv. Aen. 7.190) with his galerus and
apex; this however is not attested elsewhere, and perhaps we should rather think
of personal caprice by Gracchus. The spira will be the cord which fastened the
galerus round the chin (cf. Festus 205 offendix); it can be clearly seen in Mattingly
1 pl. 3 no. 2, DS Salius p. 1021 fig. 6047 |[416] (for a caution against the common
application of fig. 6046 to the Salii see Brandenburg 335). The noun agreeing with
aurea and functioning as subject of se porrigat is tunica, not spira; so a comma
after porrigat would be helpful. The whole emphasis of its clause is placed on AUREA. The spectators can hardly believe their eyes when they recognize Gracchus,
but are forced to do so by his official uniform; the aurea tunica is the tunica picta
(Livy 1.20.41) of the Salii, which may have had a gold stripe down the front or the
like. Normally a retiarius would not wear a tunic (on 2.143, where Gracchus seems
to wear an ordinary one). Then 209210 is merely an exaggeration; cf. Sen. Dial.
1.3.4 ignominiam iudicat gladiator cum inferiore componi. Housmans idea that a
tunic on a gladiator was a sign of depravity is in itself far-fetched and cannot be
reconciled with the details of this passage.
OMNI any, as often in the ablative of comparison (4.14, 6.163, 10.232 and 303;
KS 1.639); cf. also 3.38, 14.68.

366A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

211 Now Juvenal picks up 198. LIBERA SUFFRAGIA Livy 4.3.7.

212 Some of the Pisonian conspirators thought of making Seneca emperor
(Tac. Ann. 15.65; cf. on 10.16).
213 The senate decreed punishment for Nero more maiorum (Suet. 49.2); Juvenal thinks not only this but even the usual punishment for parricide (because
of his murder of Agrippina) inadequate. The Roman public had in fact envisaged
this punishment, which consisted of being enclosed with animals in a sack and
thrown into the sea; Suet. 45.2 tu culleum meruisti, cf. Dio 61.16.1. For it cf. 13.155
6, Modestinus Dig. 48.9.9, RE culleus 1747, Cloud ZRG 88, 1971, 26, Radin JRS 10,
1920, 119, Winterbottom index to Sen. Contr. p. 640 sack, H. J. Rose Primitive
Culture in Italy (1926) 183, RE suppl. 7.1611.21, 1614.56. Juvenal is the first source
to mention the ape.
NON UNA See on 3.151, 6.218.
215 Orestes, with whom Nero was compared (Suet. 39.2; the speech of Vindex
(cf. 222) in Dio 63.22.6, cf. 61.16.2; Philostr. Apollon. 4.38.3; [Lucian] Nero 10);
though Orestes had an excuse (Philostr., [Lucian]). Orestes was a stock example
of the rhetorical schools, Quintil. 3.11.46 (see the commentary of Adamietz, who
quotes other examples), a passage which discusses the technical sense of causa
motive, for which cf. also Quintil. 7.4.8 fortissimum est si crimen causa facti tuemur, qualis est defensio Orestis; Cic. Parad. 24. Already Aristotle Rhet. 3.2.1405b22
points out that can be considered also as . For
the excuse introduced by SED cf. 15.94.
216 DEIS i.e. Apollo, through the Delphic oracle, speaking in the name of Zeus
(Aesch. Eum. 616 sqq., 7978). |[417]
217 CAESI POCULA The account of Hom. Od. 4.531 sqq., 10.410 sqq. and
Sen. Ag. 875 sqq.
SED NEC The whole passage is framed after Hor. Serm. 2.3.131 sqq. (a modern
parricide contrasted with Orestes, who however non Pyladen ferro violare aususve
sororem / Electran) and 21014.
NEC AUT HS 522, KS 2.104.
21819 If Juvenal intended an exact comparison, SPARTANI CONIUGII (=
coniugis; HS 748), i.e. Hermione, will correspond to Octavia and ELECTRA to Antonia, the daughter of Claudius and Neros half-sister by his adoption (Suet. 35
however does not make plain the manner of her death). It is not likely that there is
any reference to the death of Poppaea as a result of Neros casual brutality.
IUGULO Lucan 3.135 haud iugulo se polluet isto / nostra manus; cf. Weymann Glotta 9, 1918, 125. POLLUIT ; as the text stands the subject is ORES
TES 220, not ILLE. But while Orestes following Agamemnonidae would not be surprising (cf. the passages of Vergil and Hor. Odes adduced on 120), its occurrence
after ille and so late is odd. Weidner suggested Oresten, which gives the excellent
joke that Orestes never performed the role of himself (as Nero did; Suet. 21).

SATIRE EIGHT367

ACONITA See on 1.158.

PROPINQUIS Cf. Suet. 35.4. Apart from his attempt to poison Agrippina,
Nero poisoned Britannicus and his aunt Domitia (PIR2 D 171, RE no. 91; at least
Dio 61.17 says so, though Suet. 34.5 disagrees about the manner of her death).
220 For Neros dramatic and musical activities see SG 2.99 and 362 = 2.124 and
187, Wille 338 sqq., A. Lesky Ges. Schr. (1966) 343 sqq.
221 TROICA On this epic by Nero cf. SG 3.32 = 2.219, Schanz-Hosius 2 p. 428.
For this whole passage see the introduction.
VERGINIUS in fact did not rebel against Nero, but in his interests subdued the
attempt of Vindex to make Galba emperor, though on Neros death he did accept
the succession of Galba. Yet even before that the part he played showed some
ambiguity; see Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 9.19.
222 VINDEX is represented elsewhere as criticising both the fact of Neros
singing (Dio. 63.22) and its quality (Suet. 41.1).
223 QUID (221) QUOD Cf. Cic. Phil. 13.34 quid non aut probastis aut fecistis, quod (v.l. quid, qu(a)e) faciat, si reviviscat, Cn. Pompeius ipse? H. Hogg,
Interpolationen bei Juvenal? (1971) 172 prefers to read Galba? quid fecit <foedius hoc? >
224 GENEROSI A thematic word, cf. 30; his gens before his adoption was the
Domitia. |[418]
225 FOEDO Not a reference to his allegedly poor voice, but to the disgrace of
his behaviour; cf. 183, foedum studium Tac. Ann. 14.14; Nepos 15.1.2 scimus enim
musicen nostris moribus abesse a principis persona.
PEREGRINA AD PULPITA On his Greek tour in 667.
226 PROSTITUI Ovid Am. 1.15.6 ingrato vocem prostituisse foro.
GRAIAE See on 11.100.
APIUM When Dio 62.9.3 among Neros prizes lists celery and pine, by the
former he means the Nemean and by the latter the Isthmian games. But Corinthian coins under Nero show the celery (B.M. Catalogue of Greek Coins, 12 Corinth
(1889) no. 564), and Juvenal is probably thinking of both Nemea and Isthmia. In
the first century the prehistoric prize of pine at the Isthmia (RE s.v. 2253, Broneer
AJA 66, 1962, 260; cf. Pliny NH 15.36) had been revived, and apparently ran concurrently with the celery for some time.
22730 2289 refer to his performance of tragic scenes, 230 to his singing to
the lyre. With EFFIGIES Juvenal returns to the symbol of ancestral statues which
started the poem. The INSIGNIA VOCIS are implicitly contrasted with the insignia of triumphs etc. (Suet. 1.2) which the gens had won; cf. the insignia of the
charioteer Diocles, SG 4.155.12 = 4.186.12 (CIL 6.2.10048). The statue may be either
of L. Domitius, the shadowy ancestor of the family (Suet. 1.1; cf. Syme JRS 60, 1970,
33), or of Neros father Cn. Domitius, to whom he is known to have erected one
(Tac. Ann. 13.10).

368A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

TU Combined with an ironical imperative, cf. 7.229.

SYRMA 15.30 and RE s.v.; the long trailing robe of tragic actors. The word
appears in Latin (Afran. 64; Valerius in Ribbeck Scaen. Rom. Fr.3 2 p. 367) much
earlier than in Greek (LSJ s.v. I 1). Neros performance of Thyestes is mentioned
Dio 63.9.4 and 22.6.
PERSONAM Suet. 21.3 tragoedias cantavit personatus; Dio 63.9.45.
MELANIPPE was the heroine of two plays by Euripides. The corruption in PF
Mico is perhaps due to the influence of texts of Statius, who mentions the Melanippus who killed Tydeus; his name is everywhere corrupted in all mss. of Statius
(and evidently of Lactantius Placidus too) to Menalippus.
229 SEU For this Knoche Hermes 63, 1928, 348 compares sive vel 11.289;
but that is quite different, and since the word has poor authority it is likely to be
an interpolation. Aut is better, but the omission in P Mico suggests a deeper corruption. Heinrich in fact defended tu, with a comma before it; but this is rather
awkward in itself, and as Housman pointed out Antigone is probably to be associated with the mask (so that, with either seu or aut, personam will be placed
). Perhaps we should read syrma <aut> Antigones |[419] personam <vel>
Melanippes; in that case vel (due to Bcheler) dropped out before mel-, was noted
as a marginal correction, and was then referred to the wrong place.
230 Juvenal is not referring directly to Neros Colossus since that was of bronze,
but he was doubtless indirectly influenced by it in his choice of the word. Suet. 12.3
says that he dedicated his coronam citharae at the statue of Augustus, Syncellus p.
162c that he dedicated his lyre itself by the golden statue of Apollo in Delphi. For
the sting in CITHARAM cf. 198.
231 CATILINA 2.27, 10.288, 14.41; he belonged to the patrician Sergii, who
traced their descent from Troy (Verg. Aen. 5.121). CETHEGUS 2.27, 10.287; a Cornelius, also patrician. Cf. Cornelius Severus ap. Sen. Suas. 6.26.67 patriciumque
nefas extinctum; poena Cethegi / deiectusque redit votis Catilina nefandis.
NATALIBUS lineage, a Silver usage.
234 bracae were the dress of the Gauls of Gallia Bracata, the old name for Narbonensis (Thes. 2.2155.68, Holder s.v. bracatus). The SENONES who sacked Rome
in 390 B.C. in fact belonged to Gallia Comata. For MINORES with the genitive cf.
2.145; here we are meant to think of such epic phrases as .
235 TUNICA MOLESTA Mart. 10.25.56; a grim euphemism for the inflammable coating applied to those who were to be burnt alive (cf. Tac. Ann. 15.44);
described in detail Sen. Ep. 14.5, cf. Juv. 1.155, SG 2.73 = 2.91. On the principle of
talio, crematio (RE s.v. and vivicomburium; Mommsen2 923, Garnsey 125) was one
of the punishments for arson (cf. 233).
236 VIGILAT So Cicero himself boasted (In Cat. 1.8); in both places the literal
and metaphorical senses blend (noctem Cicero, nocturna Juvenal). Vigilantia is a
standing attribute of consuls.

SATIRE EIGHT369

VEXILLA bands serving under a vexillum.

237 IGNOBILIS and NOVUS are identical in meaning. [Sall.] In Cic. 3.4 calls
him homo novus Arpinas; Tac. Ann. 3.55 refers to novi homines e municipiis. Both
MUNICIPALIS and EQUES carry a sting; he was not of senatorial family (Pro
Muren. 17 etc.) and not even from Rome (Pro Sulla 223, Phil. 3.15 etc.). Municipalis is often used contemptuously; 3.34, Tac. Ann. 4.3.4 municipalis adulter (see
Koestermann), SG 1.1045 = 1.11314.
238 GALEATUM 1.169; the helmet, as may be seen on some of the reliefs of
Trajans column, was carried and not put on until the enemy was in sight (Caes.
BG 2.21.5; Bell. Afr. 12.3 with the verb galeare). Ciceros men are the Roman soldiers, the Catilinarians hostes (the very point on which their execution turned).
PRAESIDIUM meis praesidiis Cic. In Cat. 1.7 etc. |[420]
239 ATTONITIS The terrified (4.77) citizens; or perhaps merely bewildered
(Sall. Cat. 31.13).
MONTE Cf. 2.74.
240 TOGA The garb of peace (10.8, Cic. De Or. 3.167); cedant arma togae. Pliny
NH 7.117 primus in toga triumphum merite. Cicero himself makes much of the
point (In Cat. 2.28; W. DrumannP. Groebe Gesch. Roms (1899) 5.512 n. 7).
241 IN This has not been plausibly emended.
LEUCADE An island or peninsula (since the channel periodically silted up) 30
miles south of Actium, but often spoken of as the site of the battle (e.g. Verg. Aen.
8.677, Prop. 3.11.69, Lucan passim).
242 THESSALIAE CAMPIS After Verg. Georg. 1.489 (whatever the exact interpretation of that passage) the poets (and even the rhetorical historian Florus
2.17.6) often confuse Pharsalia in Thessaly with Philippi in Macedonia, usually for
an artistic effect absent here; see RE Philippoi 2227, Postgate on Lucan 7.872, F. M.
Ahl Lucan (1976) 314.
OCTAVIUS Juvenal, who puts him in an unfavourable light, avoids the honorific name Augustus.
2434 LIBERA While still free, i.e. republican; cf. p. 22.
Cicero was hailed as pater patriae by Catulus in the senate and by Cato in
the popular assembly, Augustus was given the title in 2 B.C. (Weinstock 200 sqq.,
Branger 276, Bmer on Ovid Fasti 2.127, Alfldi Mus. Helv. 10, 1953, 104 and 114).
The comparison between Cicero and the imperial title is made by Appian BC 2.7.
245 ARPINAS ALIUS Marius, who was in fact distantly related to Cicero (RE
Tullius 827, T. F. Carney Biography of C. Marius (1962) 8); for a remark about two
saviours of the state from the same municipium see Cic. De Leg. 2.6.
VOLSCORUM A tough warrior race; IN MONTE also implies toughness
(2.74, 11.89), a peasant wrestling with barren soil.
246 MERCEDES He was a mercenarius (Blmner 550 and 605 n. 9, White1 347
and 3523); arator Arpinas Pliny NH 33.150. But in fact these stories of his humble

370A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

origin (Carney 89, RE suppl. 6.13678, J. van Ooteghem Caius Marius (1964) 59)
and service in the ranks (Carney 15, RE 1370, van Ooteghem 723) are probably
merely rhetorical inventions (cf. 10.130).
247 VITEM The centurions staff (RSV 2.375 n. 1, Sander Historia 3, 19545,
1034 and on 14.193); NODOSAM cf. Apul. Met. 9.40. Perhaps the spondees of
2478 portray his lentitudo.
FRANGEBAT Passively, as 6.479 (not as 136 above and Tac. Ann. 1.23 fracta
vite in tergo militis); VERTICE his own head.
248 DOLABRA See RE s.v., White2 61. |[421]
249 RERUM of the state cf. 90 and Naegelsbach 19.1.
250 EXCIPIT A zeugma; with Cimbros it means that he sustained their attack,
with pericula he took the dangers on his shoulders.
251 A hendiadys, meaning in effect stratos Cimbros. For the repetition of Cimbros from 249 cf. on 16.910; Prof. Nisbet suggests cumulos with a different hendiadys, cumulos stragis, cf. Claudian 1.110 crescunt in cumulum strages.
252 The size of the Cimbri is remarked by Plut. Mar. 11, Diod. Sic. 37.1.5, [Quintil.] Decl. 3.1314; mention of it exalts their victor.
COLLEGA Lutatius Catulus; for his minor part in the triumph cf. Plut. Mar.
27.
LAURO lauru PaF; the second declension 6.79 (abl. sing.), fourth 10.65 (acc.
pl.); cf. Cuny Rev. Phil.3 4, 1930, 6.
254 ANIMAE Cf. on 6.O.13; Verg. Aen. 6.81724 animamque superbam ultoris
Bruti saevasque securis (cf. Juv. 2628) poenam quin Decios. Decii (14.239)
devoted themselves in 340 B.C. in battle against the Latins at Veseris (RE no. 15,
Broughton 1.135) and in 295 at Sentinum against the Samnites and Gauls (RE no.
16, Broughton 1.177); Cicero is alone in mentioning a third devotion at Asculum
in 279 against Pyrrhus (RE no. 17, Broughton 1.192), though Dio says that one was
attempted then. Thus in this plebeian instance the son is not degenerate from the
father, unlike the sons of Brutus. Livy 8.9.8 professes (though see Latte 5 n. 1) to
give the formula pro re p. Quiritium, exercitu, legionibus, auxiliis dis manibus
Tellurique (8.6.10 dis manibus matrique Terrae). See Wissowa 384, RE devotio,
Latte 125 and 204; for DIS PARENTI Wissowa 239 and 194; RE Terra Mater
802; Kl. Pauly, Tellus 574.45. In Livys formula (of 340 B.C.) auxiliis refers to the
Samnite allies; Juvenal has embroidered this to make 256 a paraphrase of the common combination sociis et Latino nomine. This however is hardly happy since the
occasion was a defectio sociorum nominisque Latini (Livy 8.3.8).
255 TOTIS eventually develops into a synonym of omnis and indeed displaces
it (cf. French tout). But most seeming instances in classical Latin, such as this
and 6.61, are intelligible in the proper sense; legionibus is treated as a collective,
undifferentiated mass (= toto exercitu), not as a number of separate units. Cf. HS
203, Shackleton Bailey on 1.16.38, Wlfflin Rh. Mus. 37, 1882, 1079 and e.g. Livy

SATIRE EIGHT371

37.49.5.
258 Some of the verses which I mark as spurious are correct explanations or
summaries of what Juvenal is saying, but no more suited for insertion into Js
discourse than a Livian periocha is suited for insertion into a book of Livy At
8.258, when J. has said in |[422] three lines of vigorous rhetoric what he wants to say
there follows in the text what was meant for the margin, a curt matter-of-fact
comment or paraphrase Housman xxxii. Moreover QUAE is curious; it would
most naturally signify the Roman state (and so takes it), but must be intended
to mean legiones et auxilia atque pubes, for which qui would be natural.
259 Servius Tullius, cf. 7.199.
TRABEAM Cf. 10.35; RE s.v. 1861, Bmer on Ovid Fasti 6.375, Frazer on 1.37,
Gabelmann Jahrb. Deutsch. Arch. Inst. 92, 1977, 329. Verg. Aen. 7.612 Quirinali
trabea (and often associated with Romulus, see Fordyce on Aen. 7.1878); Pliny
NH 8.195 trabeis usos accipio reges (cf. 9.136); Livy 1.41.6 Servius cum trabea et
lictoribus prodiit (see Ogilvie). The regal trabea was a short toga coloured white
and purple.
DIADEMA The mark of kingship, cf. 13.39 and 105, RE s.v., Alfldi 263 = Rm.
Mitteil. 50, 1935, 145. Lydus De Mag. 1.7 gives a to Romulus, and H. W.
Ritter Diadem und Knigsherrschaft (1965) 13 n. 2 lists republican coins on which
Numa and Ancus Marcius wear the diadem (this seems to be the basis of Alfldis
assertion that the Capitoline statues of the kings had it).
QUIRINI i.e. Romuli (cf. 2.133, 3.67, 11.105); Servius is represented as a comedown from him, Livy 1.40.23.
260 FASCES insigne regium Livy 3.36.3 (cf. 1.41.6 quoted above); cf. Ogilvies
commentary p. 235, RE s.v. 20023, Mommsen1 1.377.
ULTIMUS Livy 1.48.8.
2612 IUVENES CONSULIS i.e. filii (on 3.158) Bruti.
LAXABANT Conative.
EXULIBUS The noun (see index s.v.) is used adjectivally.
ET English would not add a conjunction. Here it is harsher than at 5.54, 6.399,
7.211, 14.523 because the reason why they should have been champions of liberty
is the very fact that they were the sons of Brutus.
DECERET For the tense see on 4.85.
2645 Horatius Cocles, Mucius Scaevola and Cloelia, all associated with the
war against Porsena and often linked with each other (Livy 2.13.8, Verg. Aen.
8.6501).
265 Territory on the right bank of the river had to be surrendered to Porsena
(Livy 2.13.4). It is a point of pride to Roman writers to insist on the narrow boundaries of early Rome (cf. 14.160); the Tiber was a very different frontier from the
rivers of 16970.
TIBERINUM i.e. Tiberim; RE 784 and Kl. Pauly s.v., Bmer on Ovid Fasti 4.47,

372A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Wagenvoort 120 n. 2. The river-god represents the river.

NATAVIT Transitive (KS 1.263). |[423]
It would be better to punctuate with a colon after 265 and a comma in 267.
266 The slave Vindicius (linked with Servius by Sen. Contr. 3.9.2) revealed the
conspiracy of the sons of Brutus (cf. Ogilvie l.c. p. 241); Juvenal thinks that he
deserved a years mourning (LUGENDUS = qui lugeri debuit) by the matrons of
Rome no less than Brutus (Livy 2.7.4).
CRIMINA crimes as OCCULTA shows (on 1.75).
2678 virgis caedunt securique feriunt Livy 2.5.8.
LEGUM are the antithesis of , and denote constitutional as opposed to arbitrary regal power; Livy 2.1.1 (see Ogilvie), Lucan 7.441, Tac. Ann.
3.26.3, Cic. De Leg. Agr. 3.5, Sen. Ep. 90.6 and (the elder?) ap. Lactant. Inst. Div.
7.15.14.
270 The contrast between Achilles and Thersites 11.301.
VOLCANIA ARMA Cic. Tusc. 2.33 (and Verg. Aen. 8.535, 12.739); so Ps Vulcanique (Volcani G) is not acceptable. Juvenal is thinking of Achilles at Iliad 19.18
sqq. For ARMA CAPESSERE see Thes. 3.310.28.
271 PRODUCAT beget as 6.241, 14.228.
272 ordo est et, ut longe repetas, tamen deducis; vide 10.240 sq., 13.100. hoc
loco tamen ante ut positum est, ut saepius ante quamvis, saepissime ante etsi
Housman. Cf. also on 2.115, Housman on Lucan 1.333, KS 2.98.
REVOLVAS Sen. Contr. 1.6.4 (see the whole context quoted in the introduction), Ovid Fasti 4.29; perhaps a metaphor from rolling back a scroll.
LONGE Cf. 13.207.
273 ASYLO Cf. on 47; Ogilvie p. 62, Bmer on Ovid Fasti 3.429, H. Strasburger
Zur Sage von der Grndung Roms (Sitzb. Akad. Heidelberg 1968, Abhl. 5) 335;
infami luco Lucan 7.438.
275 PASTOR 2.127.
ILLUD NOLO Cf. Prop. 3.6.22 qualem dicere nolo = scortum; literally ne-fandum. Juvenal pointedly avoids the word fur or latro, neither of which should be
applicable to an aspiring provincial governor like Ponticus; but perhaps we should
not suppose that Juvenal is specifically thinking of Ponticus.

[424]

Satire Nine

This is Juvenals only satire in dialogue-form (see p. 31), which is chosen because
of the scope which it offers for irony; the urbane politeness of the interlocutors
to each other reminds us of a Platonic dialogue. Juvenal does not make an overt
attack on Naevolus, but represents himself as a detached listener who pretends to
sympathise with him. The enormity of Naevolus profession is emphasised by the
coolness with which it is taken for granted. The poem shows Juvenal passing to a
new stylistic phase, from the indignatio of the earlier satires to the cooler manner
of Book IV characterised more by Democritean laughter; this is not to say that
his moral indignation has decreased, but that he has here found a different way of
expressing it, one that is all the more effective because seemingly dispassionate.
This poem lacks the dramatic vividness of Three and the sombre elevation of Ten,
but in respect of literary artistry it is Juvenals masterpiece.
In appearance it is an attack on an unnamed passive pervert (like most of those
assailed in Two) for his meanness to his client (59 and 72) Naevolus, a bisexual gigolo (like those mentioned by Clement of Alexandria quoted on 2.17), who
complains of his treatment. It looks then like another assault on the miseries and
humiliations of client life from a different side to that treated in Five. This impression is not entirely false, and generalised bitterness at such patrons breaks
through (489) even where it is not wholly appropriate. Juvenal has also specifically recalled Five by mentioning Virro (35) as an example of lust (note that he
is no more than this; it is quite unwarranted, with most editors and e.g. Highet
ch. 17, to identify Naevolus patron with Virro). Likewise the mercenary attitude
shown in 3842 picks up 5.1315; but the contrast with the literary form and vehement style of that poem is striking. The present attack however is double-edged;
in fact the main point of the poem is Naevolus unwitting relevation of his own
true character. Juvenal meets Naevolus in the street and begins with a common
|[425] conversational gambit (see on 12). But the comparison of Naevolus with
Marsyas, typical of the attitude of amused banter which Juvenal adopts, shows
that, in spite of his seeming concern, he does not take Naevolus quite seriously,
373

374A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

and the following lines (35) with their startling obscenity definitely set the tone
of the poem. Naevolus, formerly so trim, is now unkempt; here too an apparent
expression of sympathy carries a barbed gibe at his former dandyism. He must
have changed his way of life, which had been that of a notorious lovernot only
of women, but also (26) of men. So, with an arresting gross colloquialism (incli
nare), the real character of Naevolus suddenly comes into the open in the last line
of the introductory speech, whereas until now words suggesting serious standards
of ethics have been applied to him (propositum 21 cf. 10.325, modico contentus 9,
animi tormenta 8).
Naevolus in his reply indicates that he has not changed his way of life, but
has fallen on hard days. He represents himself as all wounded innocence, and
shows no trace of moral sensibility about his profession, in which he does not
see anything remarkable; it is just a job like any other (ET hoc 27), but laborious
(42 labores, 59 exhausti, 76 tota vix) and unpleasant (437). He has taken it up
not because he gets any pleasure from it (he regards himself as an instrument,
a bipes asellus 92, not as a human being), but as a means of living (136) and an
investment (damnum temporis et spes deceptas 1256). What concerns him is not
sex but money; his first word is utile (27), and his first complaint (278) is that the
rewards do not correspond to services rendered. He fears destitution, but shows
the snobbish attitude typical of many of his social standing (see on 10; one slave is
not enough 66) in the same position at Rome (cf. introduction to Three and 3.21
sqq.). The banausic answer of actually working for a living does not occur to him;
prosperity at Rome can only come from hanging on to other (139 figam, a naked
word). Many others prosper from this way of life (27; cf. the picture of Rome in
130 sqq., from which the reader will understand how Naevolus can regard his
profession in such a matter-of-fact way); he exonerates himself for his own failure
by concluding that it can only be due to fate (32; cf. 1356; he is infelix). With this
Stoic touch (see on 32) he elevates his misfortune to a cosmic context, and thus
shows a ridiculous self-importance which is |[426] accentuated by his application
of Homeric allusions (37, 645, 14950) to his situation. Yet, even if miserly effeminates are sent by destiny (tamen 38), they are abominable. They reckon up
every penny, which to a Roman would be a sign of an illiberalis animus; adopting
their methods Naevolus shows that even so he is underpaid. But he obviously
finds cash ungentlemanly; he would prefer the present of a little estate in return
for the gifts which he himself sends (503) to his patron. Moreover the patron,
in spite of his promises (74, cf. perfide 82), has forgotten to count or has undervalued Naevolus services in making him a father (Naevolus showed a becoming
reluctance to do this, 73, though this reluctance has now gone, 90); and this is not
the only case passed over by the patron (70). Instead of commercial calculations
(701) Naevolus would prefer a more gentlemanly manner of requital, one more
conformable to the traditional client-patron relationship, gratia (82; of course this

SATIRE NINE375

may take concrete form) for a meritum.

Juvenal admits that Naevolus resentment seems to be justified, but, feeling
that the picture presented has been one-sided, asks what defence the patron puts
up. The answer is none; he just ignores Naevolus and is now looking for someone
else instead. But now (93) Naevolus suddenly realises that he has been indiscreet,
and asks Juvenal to keep all this dark. A rich man has no secrets, replies Juvenal;
slaves disclose them all. Indeed one of the chief reasons for living a good life,
which of course one ought to do, is to avoid the gossip of slaves (one can think
of nobler reasons; the irony is obvious). Juvenal is here delicately pointing out
to Naevolus that in fact he has been betraying his patrons secrets, and although
he resents his patrons suspicions on these grounds (967) they are in fact justified (contrast 3.4957). But Naevolus is too self-righteous to catch the hint, and
answers that this advice is too general to help him (quite correctly; it has little
relevance to a poor man with only one slave, cf. 64); evidently he sees no contradiction between recte vivere and his own life. He wants some specific advice
(125), for time is passing and he is getting old. This thought is expressed in terms
of elevated and affecting pathos with delicate imagery, all of which would be appropriate to an irreproachable and sympathetic character; the fact that Naevolus,
like Acanthis in Propertius (l.c. on 1268), sees nothing |[427] incongruous in such
language issuing from his mouth shows how insensitive he is to his moral degradation. Nevertheless Juvenals general presentation suggests that he does not lack
a certain genuine compassion for Naevolus; moral condemnation need not be
one-sided and preclude pity.
Juvenal answers, though in ironical tones, that Naevolus may yet, like some
others (see on 1334a), attain riches. Naevolus declares that he will be content
with a modest prosperity, fit reward for his simple piety to his Lares (an affecting
pictureif it came from rustic Phidyle); but he stipulates not too modest a reward
(see on 147). Yet even this cannot be hoped for; Fortune is deaf to his Siren song
(see on 150).
12 A greeting, cf. Mart. 2.65.1 cur tristiorem cernimus Saleianum?; Quintil.
10.3.13 Iulius Florus cum Secundum tristem forte vidisset interrogavit quae
causa frontis tam adductae; Donatus on Ter. Eun. 304 (quid tu tristis?) proverbiale
est in hominem perturbatum et incerti vultus (also from comedy cf. Plaut. Bacch.
669, Cas. 172, Menander 104 ; also Varro
Sat. Men. 8); Lucian Dial. Deor. 14.1 (v.l. ), .
TOTIENS So all this has been going on for some time.
NAEVOLE This like many Roman names (Plut. Cor. 11, RE Spitznamen 1828,
Reichmuth 60, Cbe 153, O. Weise Language and Character of the Roman People
(Eng. tr. 1909) 32) is derived from a bodily deformity; for the names Naevus and
Naevolus see Kajanto 246. Martial 3.71 and 95 also uses the name of a pervert, but,

376A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

unlike Juvenals, a passive one, and employs it several times for men introduced
in other characters.
FRONTE OBDUCTA Hor. Epode 13.5.
MARSYA VICTUS Cf. the famous statue preserved in many copies and illustrated e.g. by M. Bieber Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age 2 (1961) figs. 43840. As a
Satyr or Silenus, Marsyas was necessarily lustful.
34 DEPRENSUS DUM go together.
BARBA (cf. on 4.103) Aristoph. Knights 1286 ; Lucian
Pseudol. 31.
RAVOLA The name is formed like Scaevola.
RHODOPE is a name associated with disreputable women (Bmer on Ovid
Met. 6.87).
5 This line looks most unlike an interpolation. Weidner Wochenschr. Kl. Phil.
4, 1887, 463 punctuated barba, nos servo? so that 5 is attached in asyndeton
as another dum-clause, and Housman |[428] explains this nos, qui inrupimus,
Ravolae colaphum incutimus tamquam servo crustula lambenti; for the identification where a comparison might be expected see on 1268. This seems to be right
(though perhaps incutimus is not quite so natural a present as terit), and it is not
necessary to place a lacuna after 4 with Ruperti. Lambere is wittily used both of
slaves who lick the morsels (Lucil. 585 iucundasque puer qui lamberat ore placentas; Hor. Serm. 2.4.79, 2.6.109) and in the obscene sense (2.49; cf. Henderson 167 n.
75 and 186). Rhodope is presumably a courtesan on whom NOS have proprietary
rights.
COLAPHUM INCUTIMUS Ter. Ad. 200 colaphos infregit mihi.
6 ERIT will be found to be cf. 2.47. There is a kind of comparatio compendiaria, so that in effect Crepereius = facies Crepereii. This man, mentioned 11.43
as the victim of moneylenders, is prepared to pay three times the maximum (G.
Billeter Gesch. des Zinzfusses (1898) 266; Pliny Ep. 9.28.5 is joking) legitimate rate
of interest, 36 per cent per annum instead of 12 per cent (1 per cent per month);
cf. 60 per cent in similar circumstances Hor. Serm. 1.2.14. On interest rates cf. on
1401; RSV 2.60, RE fenus 2197; Blmner1 650; Reece G & R2 16, 1969, 378. This
passage is discussed by Billeter 2345.
9 CERTE With the imperfect 6.28.
MODICO CONTENTUS Cf. 139 sqq.; Thes. modicus 1234.8; c. parvo Hor. Serm.
2.2.110.
10 VERNAM EQUITEM He was as witty as a verna (Marquardt 167 n. 3,
Blmner1 288 n. 8; e.g. Sen. Dial. 2.11.3), but without abandoning the dignity of his
rank; cf. Petron. 24.2, Tac. Hist. 2.88.2 urbanitas vernacula (see on 11). Martials
Naevolus either was not an eques or his property had fallen below the equestrian
census (3.95.10), cf. on 140. Perhaps Juvenal is also contrasting him with the foreign equites (7.14), who lack the true urbanitas (11). For verna = native cf. Mart.

SATIRE NINE377

3.1.56, where it is equated with domina qui natus in urbe est and contrasted with
Gallus (see also 10.76.4, 13.43.2) and on 1.26; on the other hand cf. Mart. 1.41.12
urbanus tibi, Caecili, videris. / non es, crede mihi. quid ergo? verna.
CONVIVA (i.e. ) FACETUS Like Calliodorus, Mart. 6.44; Cic.
Pro Cael. 67 in conviviis faceti.
11 A paraphrase of urbanitas; Cic. Ad Fam. 9.15.2 urbani sales (cf. De Or. 2.231),
vernacula festivitas (contrasted with the wit of foreigners, cf. on 10), Brut. 172 sapor
vernaculus. Domitius Marsus declared it propriam esse nostrae civitatis (Quintil.
6.3.103) and defined the urbanus after Cato as qui in conviviis ridicule commodeque dicet (ibid. 105). In general see De Saint-Denis Latomus 3, 1939, 5 = Essais
sur le Rire (1965) 145; Ramage AJP 84, 1963, 390. |[429]
12 SICCAE Not pomaded, Mart. 10.72.11; Theocr. 14.4 ; Julian Anth. Plan. 113.4 .
13 nitidum bene curata cute Hor. Epist. 1.4.15; cutis nitorem Pliny NH 31.84.
14 VISCI normally means mistletoe or birdlime made from it, but here is applied to another viscous substance, pitch (pix viscosa Marcell. Med. 16.67); that
from Bruttium, then as now covered with thick pine-forests, was famous (RE Pech
4.14, Bruttium 910.18; Thes. 2.2214.3, Blmner2 2.353 n. 4; e.g. Lucian Alex. 21). Pitch
and resin were used as depilatories (see on 8.114), whence ,
and their derivatives. BRUTTIA is a transferred epithet.
15 FRUTICANTE Cf. silva 13; CRURA cf. on 8.115.
16 AEGRI acts as a noun, cf. 3.232 and index adjectives.
VETERIS One who has been aeger for a long time; cf. 1.133, 7.170, vetus quartana Celsus 3.16.12.
17 TORRET has been torturing, the present as with iamdiu etc.
TEMPORE LONGO In conformity with a general linguistic trend, the short
word diu tended to disappear in favour of various periphrases (Lfstedt 2.412,
Wlfflin 177); the one which we have here (cf. 11.152) is the ancestor of French
longtemps. The ablative of time during which is common in Juvenal, e.g. 6.474,
10.239.
QUARTA DIES See on 4.57.
DOMESTICA Cf. 15.64; Febris lived with Claudius for years, Sen. Apoc. 6.
1820 Lucil. 638 animo qui aegrotat, videmus corpore hunc signum dare; cf.
Otto frons 1 and Nachtrge 40, 237; Tarrant on Sen. Ag. 128.
DEPRENDAS Anybody, not just Naevolus who is being addressed.
224 Temples were common places of assignation, especially those frequented
by women (Herter 86 nn. 2967, SG 1.257 = 1.304, Mayor on Tertull. Apol. 15 p.
248, where correct one reference to Ovid Trist. 2.287). The temple of Isis is often
mentioned in this connection, rightly or wrongly (6.489, Mart. 11.47.4 and the
elegists; JordanHlsen 1.3.567, S. K. Heyob The Cult of Isis among Women (1975)
111); for this temple see on 6.529.

378A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

GANYMEDEM PACIS The temple of Pax built by Vespasian (Weinstock JRS

50, 1960, 51; PlatnerAshby 386, Lugli 3 (1955) 173 and Roma Antica, Il Centro
Monumentale (1946) 269, Nash 1.439, Colini Bull. Comm. Arch. Rom. 65, 1937, 7
sqq., esp. 10; RE Pax 1435) was elaborately adorned with works of art, including
evidently this statue of Ganymede. Temples in the ancient world often performed
the functions of modern museums and art-galleries (e.g. that at Petron. 90.1; SG
1.369 = 1.448, Casson2 238, D. E. Strong in Archaeological Theory and Practice,
Essays presented to W. F. Grimes (ed. |[430] Strong, 1973) 247). The base of a statue
of Ganymede by Leochares (RE s.v. 1994, Pliny NH 34.79) was found in Rome
(IG 14.1253; C. Picard Manuel dArchologie Grecque, La Sculpture 4 (1954) 823),
though not evidently near the site of the temple of Pax.
23 For female enthusiasm for the cult of the Mater Magna (Matris would be
better for a capital) see e.g. [Lucian] Amores 42 and on 6.511; on her temple on the
Palatine see PlatnerAshby 324, Lugli 8 (1962) 88 sqq. and Roma Antica, Il Centro
Monumentale (1946) 431, RE Palatium 36; Romanelli Monum. Ant. 46, 1963, 201
and in Hommages J. Bayet (1964) 619.
ADVECTAE Almost a technical term in this connection, e.g. Livy 29.10.5; cf.
on 3.137.
SECRETA This word has not been satisfactorily explained; plainly unsatisfactory explanations are given e.g. by Wissowa in Friedlaender and by Ziegler in RE
Palatium 11. Lubinus proposed sacrata, cf. Ovid AA 3.389 sacrata Palatia Phoebo,
Catull. 55.5.
24 Ceres is a particularly chaste goddess (casta Ceres Stat. Silv. 4.3.11 and restored on Ann. Epigr. 1953 no. 48; cf. Vitruv. 1.7.2), and therefore adultery in her
temple was the more reprehensible. She was especially worshipped by women (see
on 6.50 and H. le Bonniec Le Culte de Crs (1958) 388), who were initiated in her
rites (le Bonniec 423).
CEREREM i.e. templum Cereris; for the idiom cf. 14.260, HS 827, Bmer on
Ovid Fasti 6.191, Cic. Pro Milone 86, Sen. Contr. 7.2 (17).7, Livy 5.52.10 compared
with 31.3 etc.; cf. also on 10.16. For the temple see le Bonniec 254, PlatnerAshby
109, Thes. Ceres 340.9, Nash 1.227.
QUO NON TEMPLO Cf. 6.345.
25 NOTIOR Cf. 6.42. Elsewhere Juvenal uses adulter in the nominative and
keeps moechus for the oblique cases, adltr etc. being metrically intractable. He
has moecha also in the nominative at 2.68 (contrast 6.278, 14.256).
CELEBRARE scelerare (P) would be inconsistent with the urbanity of Juvenals
address to Naevolus.
26 INCLINARE Cf. 10.224, CIL 4.5406 = CEL 356 and incurvare Mart. 11.43.5;
see Gow on Theocr. 5.43.
27 ET HOC As well as more honourable kinds.
VITAE GENUS ; cf. 3.228.

SATIRE NINE379

NULLUM OPERAE PRETIUM Cf. 12.127.

2831 LACERNAE could be worn over the toga (cf. 16.45, RE s.v. 328.45, Marquardt 568, Blmner1 215, Wilson 117 sqq., Kolb Rm. Mitt. 80, 1973, 116) and were
a common present from patron to client (Pers. 1.54, Mart. 6.82.912, 7.92.78);
but these ones were of |[431] poor quality, like many Gallic fabrics (Mart. 4.19.1 Sequanicae pinguem textricis alumnam, 6.11.7 me pinguis Gallia vestit). On the Gallic
textile industry see RE Gallia 648 and Industrie 1479, ES 3.586, Blmner3 137 and
1423, Charlesworth 195; C. Jullian Hist. de la Gaule 5 (1920) 238, P. M. Duval La
Vie Quotidienne en Gaule (1952) 163 and 350; and on 6.537, 8.144.
COLORIS The epithets (crassae lacernae Mart. 8.58.1; for duri cf. 3.170) show
that this must mean type, quality in a general sense; but none of the examples
quoted in Thes. s.v. 1720.73 sqq. is close to this passage. For the combination of the
genitive of quality with an adjective (PINGUES) cf. on 3.4.
PERCUSSAS PECTINE To make the fabric close-woven; cf. Blmner2 1.1589.
31 ARGENTUM Silver plate, as often (on 1.76); this too was a common present
(Mart. 5.19.11, 8.71, 10.14.8, 10.57, 11.105).
32 fata regunt orbem Manil. 4.14; Naevolus resorts to Stoicism to explain his ill
luck, though in 148 he calls upon Fortuna, more appropriate in that context. See
however on 7.197.
33 SINUS Cf. Petron. 24.7, Sen. Exc. Contr. 4 pr. 11 inter pueriles condiscipulorum sinus lasciva manu obscena lusisti. On the folds of the toga (RE s.v. 1656.8,
Marquardt 55760) the locus classicus is Quintil. 11.3.137; they became much longer and more flowing under the Empire.
SIDERA Cf. 7.195.
34 FACIET i.e. proderit, cf. 8.1.
INCOGNITA unprecedented as nunquam visa 12.74 and often invisitatus.
MENSURA 1.41 and Priapea 80.3; also Seneca quoted on 35.
NERVI 10.205; Rosenbaum 388; LSJ v.
35 VIRRO The name, which appears also in Five, seems to be known only from
the Augustan S. Vibidius Virro (Syme JRS 39, 1949, 17 = Syme3 76).
NUDUM VIDERIT In the baths 6.374 (11.156), Sen. NQ 1.16.23 Hostius Quadra
in omnibus quidem balineis aperta mensura legebat viros (see the preceding
context), Petron. 92, Mart. 1.96.1013 (nec otiosis mentulam videt labris) and Citroni on 1.23, SHA 17.8.6.
36 TABELLAE Cf. 6.233, 14.29.
37 A parody of Hom. Od. 16.294, 19.13 ( ), a well-known verse
translated by Val. Fl. 5.541 and referred to by Tertull. De Pallio 4 as if proverbial;
Juvenals alteration underlines degeneracy from manliness to effeminacy.
38 ULTERIUS Cf. 2.34, 15.118; MOLLIS AVARUS cf. on 2.9 and 47.
401 TABULA The abacus; Petron. 80.9 calculus in tabula |[432] mobile ducit
opus. CALCULUM PONERE is common (Thes. calculus 143.14).

380A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

PUERI Slaves to perform the calculations, calculatores (CIL 14.472 = ILS 7755);
cf. the relief partly illustrated by DS abacus p. 3 fig. 4.
NUMERA Now Naevolus addresses the mollis avarus.
42 OMNIBUS IN REBUS all told.
43 TAM FACILE ET PRONUM EST 13.75.
AGERE PENEM Priapea 25.6 hoc sceptrum intra viscera furis ibit usque.
44 LEGITIMUM Of proper size.
HESTERNAE OCCURRERE CENAE Parallels are quoted by Buchheit Hermes 90, 1962, 255 and Studien zum Corpus Priapeorum (1962) 144 (but Priapea 69
probably has a slightly different point), Henderson 193 (add Aristoph. Eccl. 31617,
Lys. 1174). Mart. 11.88 and 13.26 hint at the same point; cf. also Arnob. 4.7 luteas
voluptates and CIL 10.4483 = E. Diehl Pompeian. Wandinschr. (1910) 508.
456 FODERIT DOMINUM Cf. Plaut. Cas. 455, Mart. 1.92.1112, Priapea
52.8, Henderson 168; cf. 2.10 fossa. AGRUM FODERE is hard work, 11.80. A semicolon should be placed after DOMINUM. The line implies that the male prostitute is a servus.
467 The patron piles every laudatory epithet on himself. He thought himself a
Ganymede (the archetypal catamitus, a word derived from this name; cf. 5.59 and
RE s.v. 741.66 sqq.) though he was old and ugly. According to Suidas s.v.
Zeus and Ganymede were the first instance of homosexual love.
CYATHO Cf. 13.44.
489 are not strictly relevant to the train of thought at this point, but they
cannot be removed since then the proximity of tu in 46 and 50 with different
references would be intolerable, and there is a contrast between the presents not
received by the client (489) and those sent by him (50 sqq.). A spasm of anger
at the treatment of poor clients by patrons has caused the introduction of 489.
VOS o molles avari; see index pronouns.
CULTORI Cf. colis 7.37.
MORBO Cf. on 2.16; Naevolus has a cheek to call it this, and evidently despises
those on whom he preys.
50 EN Cf. on 2.72; TU cf. on 2.61.
UMBELLAM See RE and DS s.v., RE and Kl. Pauly s.v. Schirm, Blmner1 266,
Marquardt 148 n. 4, Diez Jahreshefte des st. Arch. Inst. 41, 1954, Beibl. 123. Naturally this was usually employed in the ancient world as a sunshade, and this seems
to be the only mention of its employment to keep off rain (madidum ver). For
SUCINA see on 6.573. These are presents suitable for women on their birthdays or
|[433] the festival of the Matronalia (RE s.v. 2307, RSV 3.571, Blmner1 365, Bmer
on Ovid Fasti 3.167) on 1st March; the combination as Ovid AA 1.4056.
MADIDUM VER Cf. 4.87; INCIPIT The beginning of spring is set by Juvenal
round the end of February; some put it even earlier.
STRATA Cf. 16.44; CATHEDRA used by women, cf. on 6.91.

SATIRE NINE381

SECRETA He is ashamed to do all this in public.

54 PASSER Sparrows (see Fordyce on Catull. 2) were regarded as salacious;
Otto s.v., Henderson 129, RE Sperling 16301 (e.g. Cic. De Fin. 2.75). The word is
also used as a term of endearment (Plaut. As. 666, Cas. 138).
MONTES These would be used for summer grazing in the transhumance system; cf. White BICS 14, 1967, 74.
APULA See on 4.26; the pasturing farms were particularly large there (Yeo
TAPA 79, 1948, 293).
55 MILVOS Miluus begins life as a dactyl, though interpolation has introduced
the trochaic scansion into Mart. 9.54.10 and some mss. at Ovid Met. 2.716 and
Pers. 4.26. No instance of the trochaic scansion can be shown to be earlier than Juvenal, though it is found also in pseudo-Ovid Halieut. 95, which is significant for
the dating of that work. These birds proverbially flew a long distance (Otto s.v.).
567 On Campanian wine see Sirago 225 sqq., Billiard 73, MarescalchiDalmasso 13, P. Remark Weinbau im Rmerreiche (n.d.) 94. The TRIFOLINUS AGER
was near Naples; its wine and that of mount Gaurus are often mentioned. On the
wine of Cumae see Athen. 1.26f.
INANIS Knoches reference to Aetna 489 presumably means 186 or 195, but the
parallel is probably not valid (see Goodyears commentary pp. 1445). The point
is doubtless its volcanic character (quia vaporiferos specus habet ); if Gaurus is
correctly identified with Monte Barbaro, that has a crater (K. J. Beloch Campanien
(1879) 25; Nissen 2.736 rejects this without giving reasons). It is less likely to mean
unpeopled; still less to refer to Neros excavations for a projected canal (Grenade
REA 50, 1948, 179).
58 This line should be ended with a semicolon.
VICTURO MUSTO Dative from vivo (cf. vita Pliny NH 14.21); the wine is
kept to increase its value because of its vintage character. DOLIA are large urns
(Blmner1 580 and on 14.308) into which the grape juice was drained immediately
on pressing (hence often coupled with mustum, Thes. 5.1.1833.45, Hilgers 172); but
only poor wine meant for everyday use would be kept in them, whereas better
wine like this after fermentation would be bottled in amphorae (Blmner1 |[434]
148 n. 8). These dolia were regularly lined with pitch (picata, cf. Thes. ibid. 11, Billiard 474, Hilgers 176, White2 plate 15c), both because they were of coarse, porous
material and because pitch added a flavour liked by many (like resin in modern
Greece); cf. Marquardt 457, MarescalchiDalmasso 29, Pliny NH 14.121, 127, 134
(with Andrs note p. 148), 16.534, 23.456 (where he considers this unhealthy).
Linere is also applied to sealing the cork with pitch, but that is less likely to be
meant here.
59 QUANTUM ERAT Mart. 2.46.9, Ovid Met. 4.74. This should be punctuated
with the older editions as a question; quantum erat? suggests the answer non magnum, whereas the exclamation quantum erat! suggests magnum. The indicative in

382A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

such cases, where English would say would have been, is regular (KS 1.1703, HS
3278). For a present of land to a client cf. White JRS 68, 1978, 91.
LUMBOS is common in this sense in the Vulgate (loins), but not clearly so
attested in classical Latin (not even at Catull. 16.11). However the imagery seems
to imply it at Pers. 1.104, and delumbare may mean castrate Sen. Contr. 10.4.2.
60 MELIUS is the adverb; is it better that the legacy should be left not to me but
to the priest of Cybele? The legacy is described in humble terms to make it seem a
modest request; he lays the emphasis not on the land and its products but on one
little verna, who is still at the stage of playing with his pup (note the diminutive)
and toy houses (Tib. 2.1.234 turbaque vernarum ludet et ex virgis extruet arte
casas; Hor. Serm. 2.3.247 and 275 aedificare casas; Aristoph. Clouds 879, Lucian
Hermotim. 33). The wording closely resembles 11.14553, but that is largely fortuitous since there the casula is his actual home.
HIC cannot be the adverb, for the country is not here, i.e. at Rome; nor can
it be the pronoun, for no definite rustic infant is indicated. Housman therefore
must be right with melius nunc, i.e. , as matters now stand (cf. 5.141), since
you are not going to leave the property to me. Castiglioni (in Vianellos edition)
suggested dic.
RUSTICUS INFANS 3.176.
CONLUSORE This hovers between the status of an adjective and an apposition; cf. 14.247 and on 4.62, 8.149.
CYMBALA These like tympana belonged to the cult of Cybele with its eunuch
priests. The patrons friends show his character.
The genitive after LEGATUM here indicates the recipient, as at Cic. De Rep.
3.17, Scribon. Larg. Comp. 120; so also after donum (Thes. s.v. 2021.68).
639 Cf. 3.1667 ; Prop. 3.13.13 nulla est poscendi reverentia. IMPROBUS
impudent. |[435]
PENSIO develops from the meaning of rent to that of lodgings, which survives in Romance. PENSIO CLAMAT is a .
AIT See on 8.44; but it may be the idiom remarked on 5.19.
PUER UNICUS (a comma after PUER would be helpful) To have only one
slave is as abnormal and inadequate as to be one-eyed, cf. Mart. 12.87.3; Umbricius
has none (3.286). Cf. Balsdon1 107, Blmner1 281.
LATA See Aen. 3.636.
PER On account of which; Ulysses would not have escaped if Polyphemus had
had two eyes.
SOLLERS Ovid Ex Ponto 4.14.35; because of Latins aversion from compound adjectives (but see on 8.67, 11.181), a Greek compound (here ,
) is often rendered by a simple Latin adjective. The same epithets are
represented in Livius Andronicus by versutus, in Horace by duplex. See A. Cordier
tudes sur le Vocabulaire pique dans lnide (1939) 219 sqq.

SATIRE NINE383

67 PASCENDI Cf. 123 and see on 3.141.

BRUMA SPIRANTE 4.58.
68 SCAPULIS A conversational expression; Sen. Ep. 17.9, 63.11, Dial. 7.25.2.
Cato Agr. 59 specifies a clothing allowance for a slave (vestiarium Sen. Dial. 9.8.8,
De Ben. 3.21.2; Colum. 1.8.17), cf. Blmner1 289 and on 1.93.
DECEMBRI Cf. Calp. Sic. 2.87 sole Decembri.
69 Cf. Ovid AA 1.271 prius taceant aestate cicadae, Hesiod Scut. 393, Anacreontea 33.1.
70 sqq. Naevolus is like the communis exoletus of Mart. 12.91. UT is concessive.
73 ISTA ut eam devirginarem; for the plural cf. on 118.
74 ET (see index s.v.) connects quam saepe and quae pollicitus, both being adverbial qualifications of rogaris, like quibus modis. Cicero and Caesar would not
allow et to stand thus with the third item of an enumeration (cf. Thes. s.v. 877.1, KS
2.32, Pinkster Mnem.4 22, 1969, 258); cf. 142, 3.167, 6.354, 11.106 (ac), 14.8 and 260,
2.52 (aut). POLLICITUS does not represent a finite verb (sc. sis).
NEMPE So Housman. 758 certainly look as if they refer to one occasion (see
on 76), and the corruption to saepe could easily be due to 73; but in any case spe
and npe are liable to confusion (see Clausen on Pers. 3.1 ed. maior).
PUELLAM See on 2.59.
75 TABULAS sc. nuptiales, cf. on 2.119; RUPERAT cf. Tac. Ann. 11.30.2 (likewise rumpere testamentum).
76 MIGRABAT So Highet CR2 2, 1952, 70. Signabat (see on 2.119, which has
probably influenced the corruption) would have to mean |[436] that she was putting her seal (I cannot find any evidence that the word could mean sign) to a new
marriage-contract with another man, but even if this could be extracted from the
Latin it is hardly conceivable that she should do this while still in the in the patrons house; and in any case I can find no evidence that the woman herself would
put her seal on the marriage-contract, which was done by the witnesses (10.336).
Migrabat is a climax after fugientem; she was not only herself running away from
the patron, she was moving house (cf. 6.171) with all her property (Highet himself
goes wrong about this, and his discussion of the passage is inexact in detail). HOC
REDEMI I got her to change her mind.
77 TE PLORANTE FORIS The patron is in the situation of a lover chanting a
(cf. 14.456).
LECTULUS The diminutive as if he is caressing the memory, as the patron, to
whom it is only a lectus (78), is not. Cf. 6.21, Asclepiades AP 5.181.12 = GowPage
HE 921 and Philodemus ibid. 5.4.56 = GowPage GP 31645;
Lucian Catapl. 27; Catull. 6.10 tremulique quassa lecti argutatio.
DOMINAE VOX sc. gannientis (6.64). Domina is the lady of the house, the
usual form of address like ; cf. hes. s.v. 1938.35, SG 4.86 = 4.87, Marquardt 59, Blmner1 364, Svennung Anredeformen (on 4.235) 3403. At 6.30 there

384A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

is a special point; here too the grotesqueness of the situation is underlined.

79 This looks pleonastic, but in fact is a climax.
81 Hom. Od. 9.14 , ; The rhetoricians develop this into the figure of (ad)dubitatio, (Lausberg p. 383,
Cic. Rosc. Am. 29 with Landgraf, Verg. Aen. 4.371 quae quibus anteferam? (and
ibid. 284, 677) with Pease, Tarrant on Sen. Ag. 649); Juvenal adapts this to indicate
the patrons attempted evasions in order to try to avoid admitting his obligations
to Naevolus. CIRCUMAGAS more vividly signifies such attempted evasions than
vertas, the usual word in such contexts; cf. Quintil. 9.2.19.
82 ERGO after all; Thes. s.v. col. 769.
84 TOLLIS After birth a Roman child was placed on the ground, and by lifting
it the father recognised it as legitimate. Cf. 6.38; RAC Erde 1143, Geburt 11516; RE
potestas patria 1071, Kaser1 65, C. W. Westrup Introduction to Early Roman Law 1.1
(1944) 260, Wagenvoort 1718, Volterra in Festschr. F. Schulz (1951) 1.388.
LIBRIS ACTORUM See on 2.136.
85 VIRI i.e. virilitatis; cf. Petron. 119.27, Sen. Phaedr. 925, HS 751, Housman
Hermes 66, 1931, 405 = Coll. Papers 1178, Headlam CR1 15, 1901, 393;
Epictet. 2.10.17. |[437]
CORONAS A sign of rejoicing in general (6.51), seemingly not a fixed part
of the ceremonies at a birth, though Statius Silv. 4.8.38 does it on the birth of a
friends son, and it was regular in Attica (Hesych. s.v. , Ephipp.
ap. Athen. 9.370c; Nonnus 25.220). 6.79 refers to wedding celebrations.
86 Cf. Lucillius AP 11.217.
87 Tac. Ann. 3.28 privilegia parentum. Since the Leges Iulia and Papia Poppaea
of Augustus (6.38, Berger 5534) orbi suffered certain disadvantages in inherit
ances; they could only inherit half of what was left to them, the rest (caducum)
was allotted to any parent named in the will. See Gaius 2.2068, Berger 377, Kaser1
724, Marquardt 76, Furneaux excursus to Tac. Ann. 3 p. 483, Humbert 147, Brunt1
558, Millar 1613.
8990 The ius trium liberorum brought many privileges (e.g. seniority in magistracies) and dispensations (e.g. from exercising guardianship); Berger 530, Kaser1 320, CAH 10.451, RE ius liberorum, Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 10.2.1, Arangio-Ruiz Studi (on 3.298) 1734.
92 The ass was notorious for its lust; cf. 6.334, RE Esel 634.64, Bmer on Ovid
Fasti 1.391. Add Semonides 7.48, Archil. fr. 43 West, Priapea 52.9, Lactant. Inst.
1.21.28, and see Deonna Rev. Belge Phil. 34, 1956, 637.
94 FIGE Cf. 11.28.
95 PUMICE LEVIS Mart. 14.205.1; cf. on 8.16. RES cf. 8.198.
967 Cf. Lucian Merc. Cond. 41. ARDET ET ODIT Sen. Med. 582.
COMMISERAT In sense equivalent to a perfect (HS 3201); cf. 5.76, 6.281,

SATIRE NINE385

7.152, 10.272, 15.16.

TAMQUAM thinking that; cf. on 3.47.
98 APERIRE 4.110, Petron. 132.
CANDELAM ADPONERE VALVIS Cf. 13.146. Lovers are often represented
as burning down doors to get to their mistresses, and an ejected one does so for
revenge with a cereus in Fortunatianus p. 90.23 RLM.
NON DUBITAT Whenever occasion arises.
100 The variants (careas being due to the subjunctives of 99) indicate carast
(Knoche).
ANNONA price generally (Thes. 112.1); cf. 8.17 emptor veneni, 13.154. But here
it is clearly sarcastic, as if poison were a commodity in regular supply with a price
fixed each year.
101 TEGES A polite imperative, cf. 8.378.
CURIA renders in many contexts; for the periphrasis cf. Soph. OC 947
(genitive) . The secrecy of the deliberations of the Areopagus was
proverbial, or |[438] Diogenianus 1.8
and 2.91 (1 p. 181 and 212), with occurrences in Alciphron and Themistius; see also
Macrob. Sat. 7.1.17 (in error; see Jans note).
102 A Corydon, Corydon, quae te dementia cepit? Verg. Buc. 2.69; the patron
is cast as the haughty Alexis. Naturally the quotation is highly ironical; the sordid
reality contrasts with the stylised homosexuality of Vergils milieu. Vergils a is an
interjection generally too elevated for satire (cf. on 14.45).
Naevolus request is naive. Gossip prevents the suppression of secrets, Petron.
fr. 28 (Anth. Lat. 476); a slave has his tongue cut out Mart. 2.82; Hamillus anticipates gossip by his slaves about his sexual proclivities, ibid. 7.62; a slave betrays a
secret in a to a (cf. 108), Appian BC 1.72.
1035 IUMENTA See on 4.5.
CANIS The watch-dog (6.415, 14.64); Blmner1 28, Marquardt 236.
POSTES Cf. Catull. 67; MARMORA see on 1.12; cf. Cic. Ad Fam. 6.3.3 parietes
ipsi loqui posse videantur, Eur. Hippol. 418.
FENESTRAS Shutters; RE s.v. 2184, Blmner1 1023.
VELA TEGANT RIMAS Cf. Mart. 1.34, 11.45; these rimae ( Aristoph.
Wasps 127) would be particularly in the shutters (Pers. 3.2; for the vela, desirable
because there would generally be no glass in the windows (on 4.21), see Blmner1
104 n. 5), but there might be others too.
OSTIA Double doors; RE s.v., Blmner1 17 n. 7, Marquardt 229.
105 Apart from esto and memento, the only -to imperative in Juvenal is sumito
in 8.134, a probably spurious line (Lucan also has no -to imperatives); therefore
tollito can hardly be right here. For the shift in number cf. Grattius 556 vel
oppande vel reponite (reponito Logus wrongly), 3778 averte superabitis;
Menander fr. 239 (Prop. 4.5.778 is corrupt); Enn. Ann. 198 accipe surrounded by

386A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

plurals; see also Zwierlein Philol. 113, 1969, 262.

106 RECUMBAT At meals; 3.82, 5.65, 6.434 and 448.
107 secundis galliciniis Amm. Marc. 22.14.4; cf. Aristoph. Eccl. 390, Gospel acc.
to Mark 14.30 and 72, Otto gallus 2. For and the divisions of the
night see Gow on Theocr. 18.56, Blmner1 374 n. 3, Marquardt 254.
108 ANTE DIEM Before it is day proper.
CAUPO Cf. on 103; his shop is a centre of gossip.
109 LIBARIUS Sen. Ep. 56.2 (but not there a slave), CIL 4.1768. On specialisation of bakers see Blmner1 193 and 2 1.945, Marquardt 420; for specialisation in
other occupations see on 6.591.
ARCHIMAGIRI See Blmner1 193 n. 2, Marquardt 146, Harcum 8 |[439] and
71.The word (now also in Ann. Epigr. 1973 no. 84) is only found in late Greek (Philo, Plutarch, Josephus, the Septuagint).
CARPTORES are usually called scissores (Blmner1 394, RE scissor, Marquardt
1467); cf. the structor of 5.120 and on 11.136.
11011 Cf. Sen. Ep. 47.4, Aristoph. Frogs 750 sqq.
BALTEA Used to beat them, cf. lora 6.414, scuticae 6.480.
11213 Drunken betrayal of secrets is contrasted with the preceding deliberate
betrayal.
NEC DERIT QUI 3.302; TE one, cf. 50 and on 2.61.
COMPITA are naturally centres of gossip (Hor. Serm. 2.6.50, Ovid Am. 3.1.18,
Mart. 7.97.12, Gellius 1.22.2, Prop. 2.20.22); cf. 6.412.
MISERAM Because the victim wants to get away; Hor. Serm. 1.9.8 and 14.
11415 refer back to 934 and 101. QUICQUID here hardly seems to differ from
quod, cf. Petron. 86.3 quicquid promiseram, meaning the two cocks just mentioned; 6.O.30 is probably not parallel (but quicumque at Hor. Epist. 1.7.60 is).
ILLOS ILLI Note the chiasmus.
116 The wine is doubly sweet, because it is the excellent Falernian (on 4.138)
and because it is forbidden fruit (cf. 4.4). FALERNI sc. tantum, cf. Cic. Ad Fam.
16.14.1.
117 Saufeias drunkenness is mentioned also 6.320. PRO POPULO FACIENS
means that as the wife of a consul or praetor urbanus she conducts the ceremonies
at the festival of the Bona Dea (RE s.v. 688.29, RSV 3.345, Wissowa 217); on the
drunkenness traditionally associated with these ceremonies cf. 6.315 and on 2.86.
FACIENS sacrificing, absolute; cf. Thes. s.v. 97.19 and 30.
11821 The following discussion is mainly reproduced from BICS 22, 1975,
14950. Obviously 119 and 1201 are variants which cannot co-exist, but there is
another difficulty. Cum tunc in the sense both and, though offered by manuscripts at Lucr. 1.130 (see Lachmann there) and occasionally elsewhere, appears
to be a solecism. There is even considerable doubt whether tunc can be used on
its own in enumeration (see the grammarians quoted by Svennung 413), though

SATIRE NINE387

perhaps this doubt is not justified; the point is discussed by Svennung, who however fails to evaluate the manuscript evidence on which he relies and is uncritical
in detail (e.g. at Pers. 2.35 tunc answers to ante in 33, and the Juvenal instances are
futile). I believe that Housman was right to restore this passage thus:
vivendum recte, cum propter plurima, tum est his
praecipue causis, ut linguas mancipiorum
contemnas, nam lingua mali pars pessima servi.

The first stage in the corruption was the depravation of tum to tunc; |[440] the latter form expelled the former in late Latin (e.g. the Peregrinatio Aetheriae and the
Vulgate never use tum, which does not survive in Romance; cf. HS 520). This put
the metre wrong, and the -manuscripts emended the fault by omitting est and
reading tunc his. The P-tradition chose rather to delete his and read tunc est; but
this left causis isolated, and so a line idcirco etc. was composed to follow 118 and
replace 1201; that this line is spurious is shown by the fact that Juvenal, like Martial and a number of other poets (see B. Axelson Unpoetische Wrter (1945) 80 n.),
does not use idcirco, but only ideo. The line later made its way by contamination
into the -tradition, where it has no function, and in this it was placed not in the
position for which it was intended, but after 123. This is much the most striking of
the few interpolations in the P-tradition (others being at 11.91, 15.93; see also 2.34).
Vivendum recte est of the P-tradition shows a secondary corruption, probably due
to anticipation from the end of the line because of the tendency to restore simplex
ordo; but it may be due simply to dittography ( = est). The plural causis explained
by just one cause may seem surprising, but cf. factis 4.11, bona summa 5.2, quaecumque 6.O.30; this phenomenon is quite common with neuter pronouns like ista
73 (see e.g. Plaut. Merc. 764 and the editors on Cic. De Nat. Deor. 1.20) and cf. also
quas ob res (Ad Herenn. 1.1 and four times in Vitruvius, listed in Nohls index s.v.
ob). For the position of the aphaeresis tum est cf. 5.1, 14.276.
1223 are omitted by a few manuscripts of no authority and were deleted by
Pinzger (who is misreported by Friedlaender and Knoche), I believe rightly. The
effect of mali pessima is spoiled by deterior tamen, and custodire animas is taken from 6.630, where, unlike here, the notion of guarding is entirely suitable. Illis
(contrary to BICS 22, 1975, 150) seems to be intended as ablative of comparison
after deterior (hic simply acting as antecedent to the relative; on 7.41, 14.44), so that
the sequence of thought is avoid the gossip of slaves, for a bad slaves tongue is the
worst part of him; yet a man who finds himself deprived of his freedom (because
his slaves may gossip about his peccadillos) is yet worse than his slaves; but hic qui
liber non erit is very badly expressed.
123 FARRE Cf. pascendi 67; AERE e.g. in providing clothing (68).
124 CONSILIUM 118 sqq.; COMMUNE too general, cf. Thes. s.v. 1971.4.
Naevolus is quite right in saying that the advice is not relevant to him.

388A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

MODO just now, cf. 8.125; the word is often nearer to nunc than to nuper
(Thes. s.v. 1305.1316).
1268 As presented in most editions, these lines show a striking mixed metaphor and a surprising word-order, as if vita in connection |[441] with flosculus were
angusta but not misera, and, in connection with portio, misera but not angusta.
All difficulty is removed when, with Wakefield Silva Critica 5 (1795) 153, velox flos
culus is placed within commas. This will then be an instance of the common idiom
whereby what might be expected to stand in a simile is presented in apposition as
an identification (cf. 5 above and 8.130, 14.246); see HeadlamKnox on Herodas
6.14, Handley on Menander Dysc. 444, E. Fraenkel Plautinisches im Plautus (1922)
512 = Elementi Plautini (196o) 479 and on Aesch. Ag. 393 sqq.
The comparison is as old as Homers ; its appearance
here in the sordid context recalls Prop. 4.5.5962, and in each case the introduction of objects of beauty is intended to show up the sordid context.
128 SERTA, UNGUENTA, PUELLAS The usual features of an ancient stag-party, cf. 6.297, 11.122, 15.50; Plaut. Asin. 803, Lucr. 4.1132, Aristoph. Ach. 1091; Marquardt 331, Blmner1 400, Baus 74.
PUELLAS POSCIMUS Naevolus is bisexual.
129 OBREPIT In similar contexts Plaut. Pseud. 686, Cic. Cato 4 and 38 (subrepere Tib. 1.1.71); NON INTELLECTA Plaut. l.c. and Sen. Dial. 10.9.4.
130 Cf. 2.168.
131 HIS COLLIBUS Cf. 6.295. Salva urbe arceque is an old formula applied
incongruously for comic effect by Caecilius 146 (see Fraenkel Plautinisches (on
1268) 231 = Elementi 223 with addenda 428; G. Williams Tradition and Originality in Roman Poetry (1968) 366); Juvenal hints at the same incongruity. Stare is also
common in such solemn contexts (e.g. Hor. Odes 3.3.42; Cic. Pro Plancio 71 stante
urbe et curia, Ad Att. 9.12.3).
1313 Cf. the portrayal of Rome as the centre of corruption in 2.163 sqq. (also
adduced on 130). The generalising present conveniunt (see the apparatus) is perhaps preferable, cf. Tac. Ann. 15.44.3 urbem quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt; the future is probably due to assimilation to DERIT.
ET CARPENTIS (this indicates speed; cf. on 8.146) ET NAVIBUS By land and
sea; cf. Hor. Epist. 1.11.28 navibus atque quadrigis.
QUI CAPUT Seneca Ep. 52.12 impudicum ostendit relatus ad caput
digitus; other references are collected by Foerster, Scriptores Physiognomici 2.277,
Sittl 48, Otto digitus 12, Onians 198. Capillus arte compositus (Gellius 3.5) is characteristic of cinaedi (RAC Effeminatus 632), who do not wish to disturb their locks.
Juvenal is thinking of the epigram of Calvus (fr. 18 Morel) against Pompey Magnus digito caput uno / scalpit; to Foersters references for this unfortunate habit
of Pompey add Plut. Praec. Reip. Ger. 4.800d. |[442]
1334a The text here should, I believe, be read thus:

SATIRE NINE389
altera maior
spes superest
*
* * *
gratus eris, tu tantum erucis imprime dentem.

The best discussions of the problem are by Ribbeck, Der Echte und der Unechte
Juvenal 143; Clauss 62; Knoche Grundlagen 65.
Altera maior spes superest is explained by Housman with reference to 1256
post spes deceptas; the patron has cheated the hopes of Naevolus, but there are
more perverts who are less mean and offer better hope. The text however looks
as if the first hope is not the patron but the fact that Rome is the cynosure of perverts; and in that case the second, greater hope is not mentioned. Moreover haec
exempla in 135 at the moment has no reference; Juvenal must have mentioned
some men from whose example Naevolus could take heart, men like Gillo (1.40);
for such a change of sexual interest for mercenary reasons see Mart. 11.87 and
Lucian Rhet. Praec. 24 (a after a ). In that case in 1356
Naevolus states that he merely wants a modest amount, not riches like the men
(felices) mentioned in the exempla. The altera maior spes was perhaps to turn, like
Martials Charidemus and Gillo, to vetulae beatae. This would suit the reference
to the aphrodisiac erucae (Thes. s.v. 824.25; Blmner1 166 n. 12), since Gillo owes
his prosperity to mensura inguinis. explains altera maior spes of the coming generation, multos imberbes habes tibi crescentes; this may be merely an improvised
explanation without justification either in our text or that of the scholiast (which
probably agreed with in omitting 134a), but Ribbeck is very likely right in thinking it a displaced note on 130.
A substantial portion then of the text must have been lost (suggesting that
Naevolus turn to old women and naming some men who have done this), and
subsequently 134 was filled out to a complete verse by borrowing from 134a. The
omission of 134a by might then have come about because of homoeoteleuton
(for a close parallel in Valerius Flaccus see BICS 13, 1966, 96), or it could be due
to deliberate emendation to remove the seeming doublet. The simple omission of
134a, either as part of an alternative version by Juvenal himself or on the hypo
thesis that gratus eris is part of a gloss, will not meet the other difficulties analysed
above. In fact gratus esse is found in erotic contexts (not of course as sordid as
this) at Hor. Odes 3.9.1, Prop. 1.12.7.
TU TANTUM IMPRIME A paratactic method of expression in effect equivalent to si impresseris, cf. KS 2.165, HS 657, index parataxis; for TANTUM cf. KS
1.201 and Stat. Silv. 3.4.97 tu modo fige. |[443]
136 Mart. 9.63.2 mentula quem pascit; Plaut. Persa 56 parasitando paverint ventres suos.
1378 On the cult of the Lares with garlands and incense (a simple cult which
hardly fits Naevolus!) cf. 12.87 sqq. (parva simulacra); RE Lares 814.60, corona
1636.63; RSV 3.128, Wissowa 169 n. 3.

390A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

NOSTRI favouring, cf. 12.89; or me digni, parvi, ut est fortuna mea (Heinrich).
139 FIGAM Naevolus is like a hunter stalking a victim.
TEGETE ET BACULO The attributes of beggars, cf. 5.8 and RE Stab 1898.9.
SENECTUS picks up 129.
1401 At 14.3224 Juvenal mentions 400,000 sesterces as a sum with which
one might live content, and Mart. 3.10 names 24,000 sesterces per annum, which
would be the interest at 6 per cent on this. Naevolus would be content with 5 per
cent, a modest rate of interest (quincunce modesto Pers. 5.149, cf. Billeter 1802
and RSV 61 n. 5 (ll.cc. on 6)). This suggests that Naevolus property had fallen
below the equestrian census, cf. on 10. Understand sint mihi from 145.
141 ARGENTI VASCULA PURI 10.19, q.v.; the diminutive underlines the
modesty.
142 C. Fabricius Luscinus, censor 275 B.C., named as representative of the good
old days 2.154, 11.91, expelled the consular P. Cornelius Rufinus from the senate
because he owned 10 lbs. of silver plate; RE Fabricius 1937.23, Broughton 1.196.
1424 These Moesians would carry him in a litter through the crowds to his
place in the circus; cf. 6.3523 (q.v.), Suet. Nero 26.2 clam gestatoria sella delatus
in theatrum (= Dio Cass. 61.8.2); an inscription from Cumae (Degrassi Riv. Fil.
54, 1926, 371 = Scritti Vari 1 (1962) 473) decrees a locus lecticae in theatro to a C.
Cupiennius. Conducit sellam in 6 l.c. might suggest that locata here means let
out for hire, but that is very unlikely since the Moesians seem to be Naevolus
own slaves. It must mean placing their necks (1.64, 6.351) in position (cf. RE lectica 1090) to carry Naevolus; but it is very hard to extract this from the word, and
Heinrichs locatum is probably right, cf. Catull. 10.223 qui pedem grabati / in
colla sibi collocare posset.
DUO A modest number, RE l.c. 1089.57; duo lecticarii Petron. 96.4 (RE 1066.30).
Naturally they must be strong.
INSISTERE He will ride above the crowd 1.159, 3.240.
MOESORUM P reads Mysorum; Mysia was regarded as a colony of Moesia,
and the two spellings are often confused. Cf. RE Mysoi, Moesi 2348, Moesia 2352;
Howard CQ2 6, 1956, 164 on Val. Flacc. 2.360, 3.484. |[444]
CLAMOSO Mart. 10.53.1; cf. Juv. 8.59, 11.197.
1456 These would be (Dio Cass. 59.28.8 etc.), who
would work independently and pay an to Naevolus; Paulus Dig. 33.7.19.1
servum arte fabrica peritum, qui annuam mercedem praestabat. See Marquardt
1624, Blmner1 285, Barrow 105, Biezunska-Malowist Journ. Juristic Papyrology
15, 1965, 65, Loane 147, RE Industrie 15064, Staerman Dialogues dHistoire Ancienne 2, 1976, 109 and 114.
145 CURVUS Cf. Lucian Somn. 18 a sculptor .
CAELATOR Verres (Cic. 2.4.54) owned his own caelatores (sc. argenti cf.
12.47), and CIL 6.4328 mentions one of Germanicus; cf. Marquardt 695, Blmner2

SATIRE NINE391

4.235, RE Industrie 1458.7.

PINGIT For the indicative see on 7.185. This would be a pictor imaginarius
(Edict of Diocletian 7.9, p. 118 Lauffer, where his wages are fixed), who would decorate room-walls with figure-scenes; cf. Blmner1 91 n. 3. The point of MULTAS
CITO is that he would be paid by piece-work; Settis Atene e Roma4 15, 1970, 117
refers to the compendiaria of Pliny NH 35.110 (see K. Jex-Blake and E. Sellers, The
Elder Plinys Chapters on the History of Art (1896) 238) and Petron. 2.9 (cf. Austin
on Quintilian 12.10.6 facilitate).
147 PAUPER Whereas he is now egens, inops and fears that he may become
mendicus (140). Paupertas (see Lewis and Short s.v.) does not indicate penury, but
a modest sufficiency (cf. Hands 62); at Cic. Parad. 50 a man who is pauper owns
aediculas in Carinis et fundum in Labicano. Nevertheless there is paradox in the
expression of the wish, cf. on 4.57. Of course the irony of the passage consists in
the fact that his wishes are not all that modest (cf. modico contentus 9). He wants
the interest from an equestrian census, but he stipulates that his investment is to
be well secured; his plate is to be more than 10 lbs.
VOTUM MISERABILE 3.276.
NEC HIS SALTEM = ne his quidem, a Silver idiom; cf. Mart. 1.86.8, KS 2.56,
HS 448.
148 VOCATUR Bcheler in Friedlaender points out that this rather than rogatur is the correct correlation to SURDO; for the variant cf. 5.63.
14850 are noticeably mournful in rhythm.
14950 Similar allusions to the wax plugs of Ulysses Sen. Ep. 31.2, Lucian Cha
ron 21, Amm. Marc. 29.2.14. PETITAS does not imply that these are the actual
plugs used on that occasion, cf. on 5.44.
SICULOS The usual ancient location of the Sirens, RE Sirenes 296.14, ML
Seirenes 607.40.
REMIGE SURDO Prop. 3.12.34 Sirenum surdo remige adisse lacus; the |[445]
ablative is best classified as circumstantial (absolute; cf. 8.137, 13.87), though it
might be related to the class of instrumental ablatives defined by Witton (see on
1.13) as soldiers on duty (10.155). This is a fine-sounding golden line to conclude;
the effect is reinforced by the epic-style collective singular REMIGE (cf. 3.306,
10.155; Verg. Aen. 5.116, Ovid Met. 8.103, Her. 3.153; Ciris 111), for which see HS 13,
KS 1.67, Lfstedt 1.12. The point of the comparison is that he would try to tempt
Fortune by offering her a share of his prosperity in a votum (147).

[446]

Satire Ten

The subject of this poem, to his imitation of which Samuel Johnson gave the title
The Vanity of Human Wishes, has in fact a positive as well as a negative side, and
might be more exactly summarised as The Right and Wrong Objects of Prayer.
The argument is systematically laid out thus:
153 Introduction. Men cannot see what is really for their good; whereas Heraclitus wept at their irrationality, Democritus laughed at it and snapped his fingers
at Fortuna.
A change in Juvenals technique was becoming apparent in Nine, a move away
from the anger announced in One and the denunciation characteristic of One
Eight. Now the prominence given at the beginning of Book IV to the laughing
Democritus announces satire based not on indignation (in fact Juvenal in 360
urges men to abandon ira (contrast 1.45)), but on a mixture of scorn, cynicism and
melancholy. That is readily comprehensible in this particular context (for who
could feel indignation rather than pity at men for compassing their own destruction by misguided wishes? Sympathy is hinted at in 56 and 129), but the change of
manner affects the whole book (Eleven and Twelve are chatty and comparatively
personal), so Juvenals announcement of it is to be taken as programmatic; 512
look like a new programme replacing 1.856. It is significant that he sees the goal
of life as tranquillitas (364), that is Democritean (on which more below);
his ethical and literary attitudes converge. I would infer from this that the change
in Juvenals literary attitude is not merely a change in technique, but does correspond to a real alteration in his outlook on life, though it did not persist unadulterated beyond this book.
545 Announcement of the central subject. What (reading <quae> in 54) in fact
are the superfluous (3546) and harmful things for which men pray? What should
they pray for? The former question is answered in 56345 (though the stress is laid
entirely on harmful things; supervacua are not so well suited to satire), the latter
in 34666. |[447]
56345 Rehearsal of the things for which men pray and their disastrous con392

SATIRE TEN393

sequences. They ask for (1) potentia 56113, taking up nocitura toga 8; this is illustrated by the one exemplum of Sejanus: (2) eloquence 11432, taking up 910; this
has two exempla, Cicero and Demosthenes: (3) military glory 13387, the nocitura
militia of 89; this has the three instances of Hannibal, Alexander and Xerxes: (4)
long life 188288, with four main illustrations (Nestor, Priam, Marius, Pompey):
(5) handsomeness 289343, which returns to one main exemplum, Silius. Nos. 1,
2, 3 thus refer to human achievements, though of course divine assistance may be
needed, whereas 4 and 5 come wholly from the gods; we may compare Livy 3.11.6,
where munera data a dis embrace nobility and bodily strength, while military
glory and eloquence are classified as won by a man himself. It will be noted that
whereas money figures prominently in the introduction (1227) it is absent from
the exemplification (with only incidental mention 901, 105); Juvenal evidently
feels that he has said enough about this already in previous poems.
34666 The positive part of the poem: men, if they are not content to take what
comes and must pray for something (which Juvenal, to judge from the vocabulary
of ridicule in 3545, regards as a weakness in the human psyche), should pray for
gifts of the mind, something which they can attain to within themselves and which
does not depend on the external influence of that Fortuna which Democritus defied.
Thus in form the poem as a whole is an extended version of that type of composition known as priamel (preamble) in which the writer leads up to the main
point by an enumeration of related items which contrast with it or by comparison fall short of it; see F. Dornseiff Antike und Alter Orient2 (1959) 391 (originally
published in W. Krhling Die Priamel (Beispielreihung) als Stilmittel (1935) 867)
and e.g. C. M. Bowra Pindar (1964) 199 (who remarks This habit of thinking
is more at home with pictures than with bleak ideas. It has the advantage for poetry that each stage of an argument stands very much by itself with its full, visual
appeal), Fraenkel 2301. The recurrence of this form in poetical treatments of
Juvenals topic is striking. We have it very briefly in Pind. Nem. 8.37. Then Horace,
who in carrying on the tradition of Greek lyric adopts the form in a number of
poems, applies it to this topic in Odes |[448] 1.31, in which he rejects the prayer
for riches and asks for good health and a sound mind (cf. on 356). Persius 2, following his constant model Horace, adapts it to combine with a poem of birthday
congratulations (cf. on 289, 3545); he too ends (735) with the same exaltation of
mental qualities. The form obviously had no longer any living meaning to Juvenal
in itself, but provided him with a structural model which happened to suit his
literary purpose, for after all desirable things offer much less scope for satire than
undesirable (cf. Mack quoted on pp. 1617).
The fabric of Juvenals theme can have its threads disentangled thus:
(1) The Socratic element. The first discussion of the subject is found in [Plato]
Alcibiades II (it is worth recalling that Persius 4 is based on the likewise spurious

394A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Alcibiades I). The following quotations from this work illustrate some of Juvenals
points.
138b ,
, , ,
;
141a ,
: but many deliberately wish for things which turn out disastrously (141c
,
), e.g. , (cf. also on 353).
142c
, ,
,
(cf. Juv. 6).
138b and 142c are resumed in 148b.
150d ,
,
, ,

(cf. Juv. 34).

Another source of the Socratic tradition is Xenophon, e.g. Mem. 4.2.345 and
particularly 1.3.2 ,
|[449]

.
Note also Plato Laws 3.687c8c. But the immediate source from which Juvenal
drew was Val. Max. 7.2 ext. 1 Socrates nihil ultra petendum a dis immortalibus
arbitrabatur quam ut bona tribuerent (so the Stoics, Diog. Laert. 7.124), quia ii demum scirent quid uni cuique esset utile (cf. Juv. 348), nos autem plerumque id votis
expeteremus quod non impetrasse melius foret; etenim, densissimis tenebris (cf. Juv.
4) involuta mortalium mens, in quam late patentem errorem caecas precationes
tuas spargis! divitias adpetis, quae multis exitio fuerunt: honores concupiscis, qui
complures pessum dederunt: regna tecum ipsa volvis, quorum exitus saepenumero
miserabiles cernuntur: splendidis coniugiis inicis manus, at haec, ut aliquando inlustrant, ita nonnunquam funditus domos evertunt (cf. Juv. 7). desine igitur stulta
futuris malorum causis quasi felicissimis rebus inhiare teque totam caelestium arbitrio permitte, quia qui tribuere bona ex facili solent, etiam eligere aptissime (cf.
Juv. 349) possunt. From a later date note Maximus of Tyre 5 ( ).8
() , ,

SATIRE TEN395

, .
(2) The Democritean. The idea of using Democritus as a symbol seems to have
been given to Juvenal by Senecas Dialogue 9, De Tranquillitate Animi (cf. animum 357, tranquillae 364); see Anderson, Univ. Calif. Publ. Class. Phil. 19.3 (1964)
17483. Cf. 2.3 hanc stabilem animi sedem Graeci euthymian vocant, de qua Demo
criti volumen egregium est; ego tranquillitatem voco. Cicero had referred to Demo
criti securitas, quae est animi tanquam tranquillitas, quam appellavit (v.l. -ant)
(De Fin. 5.23, cf. ibid. 87), but it is in Seneca 15.2 that we find the Demo
critusHeraclitus contrast (see further on 2830). The very Johnsonian title for
this poem is found 12.1 proximum ab his erit ne aut in supervacuis aut ex superva
cuo (cf. Juv. 54; Juvenal is reminded by Seneca to list this, though he pays little attention to it) laboremus, id est ne quae aut non possumus consequi concupiscamus
aut adepti VANITATEM CUPIDITATIUM NOSTRARUM sero intelligamus;
cf. 13.1 hoc secutum puto Democritum ita coepisse, qui tranquille volet vivere, nec
privatim agat multa nec publice (fr. B 3 DielsKranz; also quoted by Plutarch (see
below) 2.465c), ad SUPERVACUA scilicet referentem (2) nam qui multa agit,
saepe Fortunae (cf. |[450] Juv. 52, 365) potestatem sui facit (14.2) utique animus
ab omnibus externis in se revocandus est. It will also be noted that Seneca uses the
exempla of Sejanus (11.11) and of Croesus and a Mithridates (11.12, cf. Juv. 2734
q.v.), though Juvenals Mithridates is a different person.
Another work on this subject is the of Plutarch, from which the
following quotations are relevant:
1.465a
;
17.475d ,
, , ,
,
, ,
( Stobaeus) ,
, , ,
, ,
.
19.477a
,
.

The following surviving fragments of Democritus himself bear on the theme:

B 119 .
, .
B 1701 happiness comes from the .

396A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

B 176 , ,
.
B 234 ,

. Democritus evidently did not believe in the efficacy of prayer to the gods (Guthrie 2.479).

Plutarch 2.465c quotes the of Democritus as advising moderation even if brings overweening prosperity (p. 132 DielsKranz; cf. fr. B 191).
(3) The Stoic, perhaps due to the influence of Seneca. This |[451] comes out
strongly in the conclusion (cf. Sen. Ep. 118.37); the Stoics, as noted above, adopted
the Socratic attitude to prayer, and the very concept of requesting from the gods
what one can provide for oneself (363) only makes sense in a Stoic context. The
Stoics on the one hand believe in a beneficent providence, and that implies prayer;
on the other hand they believe in a fixed destiny, so the content of a Stoics prayer
is that his actions may be in harmony with that destiny. It was the Stoics who
made a firm distinction between things within human power and those outside
it; see Zeno fr. 79 Pearson = 177 von Arnim and especially Epictetus 1.22.9 sqq.,
Man. 12, fr. 4, where it is pointed out that what is in our power is moral choice,
, which results in and and (virtus Juv. 364). But
they recognised that deity co-operates with man even in respect to things classed
as within human power (cf. Marcus Aurelius adduced on 363). It was the Stoics
also who appropriated to themselves Hercules (361) as a pattern of man labouring
for the general good of humanity. But this illustrates a problem often encountered
in Roman literature. Juvenal was typical of those many Romans who had a general acquaintance with philosophy, but not an exact knowledge. Such Romans, in
attempting to build up a practical guide to the conduct of life, often took elements
which appealed to them from diverse creeds, as we see Juvenal drawing on the
traditions of Socrates, Democritus (the fore-runner of the Epicureans) and the
Stoics (who traced parts of their creed back to Heraclitus). But this entails the
absence of any coherent theoretical basis, and that causes some discomfort here.
For whereas the Stoics advocated engagement in civic life for the general good of
mankind, Democritean tranquillitas looks forward to Epicurean , the
withdrawal from civic life, and we have seen Seneca (l.c. 13.1) quote a remark of
Democritus on these lines. Of course one must admit that Juvenal does not spell
out (indeed probably had not thought out) the implications of what he is saying,
and that both sects with their respective and had in common
what is central here, the seeking of happiness within the mind.
(4) The poem of Horace already mentioned is not only brief, in the lyric manner, but also personal, a statement of the poets own preferences and opinions
(just as Pindars brief remark |[452] ends). But Juvenal is not just stating his opin-

SATIRE TEN397

ions, he is trying to convince the reader of their truth and impress them upon him;
in short, he is trying to exercise persuasion, and that means that he is employing
rhetoric. The influence of Valerius Maximus has already been remarked, and it
is particularly striking that in 273 Juvenal separates nostri from foreigners in his
exempla, thus reflecting the arrangement of the handbook of Valerius, in which
most chapters list first Roman exempla and then externi (cf. his preface, urbis Romae exterarumque gentium facta simul ac dicta memoratu digna). In fact most of
Juvenals examples were favourites in the declamations. Sejanus we have seen in
Seneca. Demosthenes and Cicero come together [Quintil.] Decl. 268 (p. 96 Ritter),
and for Demosthenes and his father see Val. Max. quoted on 1302, for Cicero
Quintil. 3.8.46 (discussing persuasion and suasoriae) cum Ciceroni dabimus consilium ut Antonium roget vel etiam ut Philippicas, ita vitam pollicente eo, exurat,
non cupiditatem lucis adlegabimus (however this is precisely what Juvenal does;
see below) and Sen. Suas. 6 and 7 on the same theme. For Hannibal cf. 167 declamatio and 7.1614; for Alexander Sen. Suas. 1 deliberat Alexander an Oceanum
naviget (quotations in the notes); for Xerxes ibid. 2.3 and 17, Lucian Rhet. Praec. 18
and the notes. 188288 may be illustrated by the passages collected under
(a rhetorical term) in Stobaeus Flor. 116 (see on 188); Marius in particular
is a favourite example, usually to illustrate fortunes mutability (cf. on 2745, and
see on these lines Manil. 4.45 sqq., who lists Hannibal, Marius, Pompey, (Alexander in Housmans reconstruction), Caesar, Croesus, Priam, Xerxes; it may be
noted that Juvenal has drawn on Cicero for Priam and Pompey, see on 258). Silius
alone is Juvenals (though he is introduced as if the theme of a suasoria 330); he
had evidently been impressed by the narrative of Tacitus (as probably in the case
of Sejanus; cf. on 83). For the mingling of historical and mythological in these
exempla see Canter AJP 54, 1933, 223 (and ibid. 224 for the emphatic introduction
of the word in 246).
The vividness and force of the declamation (particularly in the Sejanus section),
the drama and pathos of the episodes (cf. Bowras remark quoted above), the moral elevation of the conclusion merit and have always won great admiration. But
we should not be blind to certain drawbacks of the technique |[453] adopted by
Juvenal, drawbacks caused by attempting to treat a fundamentally philosophical
question (and Juvenals use of philosophical traditions shows his awareness of the
nature of the question) in a rhetorical manner. The rhetorical method of proof
by exempla, which relies merely on process of elimination (346), can powerfully
move the emotions but can hardly satisfy the intellect. To show that eloquence
was fatal to Cicero and Demosthenes does not show that eloquence is fatal; and
the fact is that there are and always have been successful and unsuccessful generals. Persuasion by such means has a purely temporary effect; that is sufficient for
an orators purpose, but poetry needs to be grounded in a less opportunist and
more deeply-felt moral conviction.

398A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

In fact some of the exempla do not fit well. In the case of Marius Juvenal has
to ignore the fact that he returned to Rome victorious, held a seventh consulship,
and died in his bed. It is hard to claim that Alexanders death was the direct result
of his conquests; and Juvenal must be claiming this. For although he mentions supervacua in 54, these play no part in the main body of the poem; on the contrary,
note nocitura (= perniciosa) militia 89. The rhetorical nature of Juvenals style
makes him push the argument to its most extreme and striking form, whereas a
more philosophical consideration would have to admit that some misguided objects of prayer are not actually disastrous, though they may not contribute to the
central essence of happiness.
Moreover Juvenal simply assumes throughout that the game is not worth the
candle; the examples of 188343 would probably have agreed with this, but it needs
proof for those of 56187, who might have argued that One crowded hour of glorious life / is worth an age without a name. Would Cicero really have preferred
to live longer than to have written the Second Philippic (the declaimers at any
rate thought that one should not say so; see above)? Would Juvenal himself (124)
really have preferred to have written bad poetry rather than that speech? On the
contrary it is easy to find utterances by him (8.834 and 195) which assure us that
mere survival is not the highest good. Again one misses a coherent framework of
thought against which such questions could be set, and one must doubt whether
Juvenal has seriously thought out his views. It is of a |[454] piece with this that
when Juvenal at the end tells us what to do, he, unlike Johnson, gives no reasons
for his selection. Of course one must not demand from poetry something that it
is not bound to give, the cerebral analysis of a philosophical treatise; but poetry of
the top class does not show weaknesses like those here analysed.
The final summing-up must be that this poem, fine as it is, is less successful in
the whole than in the parts. This is very characteristic of Silver Latin generally, and
it is due to the methods and canons of composition promoted by the practice of
recitation, which encouraged concentration on small-scale effects at the expense
of sustained execution of a well-planned overall design.
12 From extreme West to extreme East; cf. Sen. NQ 1 pr. 13, Pliny NH 2.2424,
Stat. Th. 1.6858. Juvenal chooses exempla from Rome, Carthage, Greece and Persia.
USQUE has become a preposition; KS 1.574, HS 254.
23 Pers. 5.105 veris speciem (so P) dinoscere calles; Sen. Ep. 45.67 (and 33.5
intellectis veris bonis).
DIVERSA different (cf. 263, 3.268); not, as in Golden Latin (e.g. Hor. Serm.
1.3.114), opposite, which is excluded by MULTUM. The word incorporates a euphemism; cf. the use of secus etc.
4 ERRORIS NEBULA See the introduction on [Plato] and Val. Max.; but the

SATIRE TEN399

metaphor is natural (e.g. Dio Cass. 38.19.1).

RATIONE Adverbial ablative (KS 1.412). Sen. Ep. 82.6 sciat quod illi bonum,
quod malum quae sit illa ratio qua cupiditatum mansuescit insania, timorum saevitia compescitur. Fear and desire are the two main causes of mental unrest, often coupled in both Stoic and Epicurean contexts (cf. 360).
5 DEXTRO PEDE To set out with the right foot was a good omen; RE omen
371.33, Wagener TAPA 66, 1935, 746, Dlger 1, 1929, 236, Otto Nachtrge 200.
CONCIPIS voto concipere (Thes. s.v. 62.14) is a common combination.
VOTI PERACTI Ovid Ibis 97; when you are voti compos.
78 Cf. 111, Sen. Ep. 22.12 istis quibus (di) bono ac benigno vultu mala magnifica tribuerunt, ob hoc unum excusati, quod ista optantibus data sunt. OPTARE
is a recurrent word in this poem in the sense pray for (also 13.96).
FACILES indulgent (Thes. s.v. 62.47) as Mart. 1.103.4 (a similar context), Sen.
Ep. 101.13 etc. The expression is clearly paradoxical.
EVERTERE Instances like this show clearly how the gnomic perfect |[455] came
into existence (cf. 2.83); for the combination with the surrounding presents cf. on
14.173.
IPSIS The domini of the domus themselves; for ipse applied to the inhabitants
in contrast to their home see A. Draeger Historische Syntax2 1 (1878) p. 80.
NOCITURA Sen. Ep. 110.10 (deus) nocitura altissime pressit.
TOGA (cf. 8.240) MILITIA (for the ablative see Thes. s.v. 961.14) Cf. Mart.
1.55.2 militiae togaeque decus.
9 TORRENS A common metaphor (119, 128, 3.74 etc.).
10 ILLE The famous athlete Milo of Croton, who died with his hands wedged
in an oak-tree which he tried to rend.
VIRIBUS is to be taken both with confisus (Val. Max. 9.12 ext. 9 fretus viribus;
Strabo 6.1.12.263 ... ) and periit.
13 STRANGULAT This may mean causes to be strangled, or simply kills;
or it may allude to Midas, who in one version (schol. Aristoph. Plut. 287)
.
CUNCTA all other, cf. on 11.25; PATRIMONIA and CENSUS are synonyms,
cf. on 12.50.
BALLAENA BRITANNICA Cf. Hor. Odes 4.14.47 beluosus qui remotis / obstrepit Oceanus Britannis and on 14.283; whales are rare in the Mediterranean
(Pliny NH 9.12).
15 TEMPORIBUS DIRIS Cf. 4.80.
16 LONGINUM i.e. his house; cf. Verg. Aen. 2.311 (cf. on 3.199), Hor. Serm.
1.5.712 hospes paene arsit, and on 3.194, 9.24. In the aftermath of the conspiracy
of Piso in A.D. 65 C. Cassius Longinus was banished to Sardinia (Tac. Ann. 16.9.1,
Pomponius Dig. 1.2.2.51).
SENECAE PRAEDIVITIS This phrase Tac. Ann. 15.64; cf. on 8.212. For the ad-

400A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

jective praedives see 14.305. On Senecas horti (park, cf. on 1.75) see Tac. 14.525.
CLAUSIT tribunus villam globis militum saepsit Tac. 15.60.4.
For the execution of Plautius LATERANUS see on 8.147. It is improbable that
this house is identical with that on the Caelian hill which later belonged to the
Sextii Laterani and the name of which survives in the basilica of St John Lateran; cf. RE Sextius 2048, PlatnerAshby 183, Jordan 1.3.243, A. M. Colini Storia e
Topografia del Celio (Mem. Pontif. Accad. 7, 1944) 373.
OBSIDET Historic present.
18 RARUS Though formally this is contrasted with tota cohors, logically it must
be equivalent to raro; cf. 8.63.
CENACULA Poetic plural; a garret (Varro LL 5.162), all the upper rooms of an
insula. Cf. 7.118, 3.199, Suet. Vitell. 7 meritorio (cf. 3.234) cenaculo and see RE s.v.,
Blmner1 556, Marquardt 221, Hermansen Phoenix 24, 1970, 342. |[456]
MILES See on clausit 16; to make an arrest.
19 PAUCA Only a few, and that of plain, not embossed, silver, and small (cf.
9.141 for the phrase and the diminutive). ARGENTUM (cf. Thes. s.v. 526.5) PURUM is contrasted with caelatum, silver with crustae or emblemata; cf. 14.62, Cic.
2 Verr. 4.4952, Paulus Dig. 6.1.6.
PORTES Roman travellers took their plate with them, Sen. Ep. 87.7, 123.7, Mart.
6.94; SG 1.2878 = 1.3434.
NOCTE ITER INGRESSUS Cf. 5.55, 3.236, Kleberg 62; one would thereby
avoid the heat of the day.
CONTUM is usually understood of a lance or pike (cf. Tac. Ann. 6.35.1 contis
gladiisque of the Sarmatians). But Scholte 75 is probably right in understanding a
boat-hook (on 2.150), which would make a good weapon (Verg. Aen. 5.208, Tac.
Ann. 14.5); he supposes the scene to be the Pomptine marshes on the Appian Way
(cf. 3.307 and harundinis 21) and refers to the poor reputation of sailors (on 8.174;
in this case bargees).
21 Cf. Lucan 7.56, Stat. Th. 6.158, Dio Cass. 63.28.2.
AD (Thes. 527.53; add Petron. 103) LUNAM So .
MOTA UMBRA motae umbram would be equally satisfactory (cf. 8.152);
see the apparatus.
22 Cf. [Ovid] Nux 434 (with inanis like VACUUS here and Catull. 64.288),
Sen. Ep. 14.9, 57.13, Dio Chrys. 7.9. For the brigands of the Roman world see SG
1.296 = 1.354, Flam-Zuckermann Latomus 29, 1970, 456, MacMullen1 255 and 266;
cf. 3.302.
CANTABIT From relief and indifference (Prop. 2.21.5); but travellers often did
anyway (Calp. Sic. 1.28).
25 TOTO FORO Among all the business-men of the forum, cf. 11.50. According to here and on 14.261 the argentarii kept the arcae of their clients in the
temple of Castor in the forum; cf. Ulpian Dig. 16.3.7.2 quotiens foro cedunt (on

SATIRE TEN401

11.50) nummularii solet primo loco ratio haberi depositariorum, Paulus ibid. 15.1.52
pecuniam in arca deponere; Pernice ZRG 19, 1898, 115.
25 sqq. Cf. Sen. Thy. 4513 (venenum in auro bibitur); Herc. Oet. 6539; Sen.
Contr. 2.1.29.
FICTILIBUS Cf. 3.168, 11.20; ACONITA cf. 1.158; POCULA GEMMATA (Thes.
s.v. 1758.31) cf. 5.37 sqq.; SETINUM cf. 5.33.
ARDEBIT does not here apply to the fiery intoxicating power of the wine
(4.138), but to its red colour (cf. 11.155) and sparkle in the gold cup (AURO cf. 5.39).
LATO A phiala (5.39).
2830 Democritus and Heraclitus. This contrast was evidently introduced by
Senecas teacher Sotion (Stob. Flor. 3.20.53 p. 550) and popularised by Seneca himself; see especially Tranq. An. 15.2 |[457] (quotiens in publicum processerat; see further in the introduction), De Ira 2.10.5 (quotiens prodierat). Thereafter we find it
in Lucian (De Sacrif. 15, Vit. Auct. 13, De Morte Peregr. 7 and esp. 45
, ; .
;); see Lutz CJ 49, 19534, 309; Stewart HSCP 63, 1958,
186; and p. 555. M, whatever that means, was attributed to Heraclitus
by Theophrastus ap. Diog. Laert. 9.6 (cf. Pliny NH 7.80). Democritus was nicknamed (Aelian VH 4.20, Suidas 2.44.15 no. 447; Cic. De Or. 2.235 = fr.
A 21 probably alludes to this and does not seem to imply that he wrote a treatise
on laughter); perhaps his became . Note however fr. B 107a
.
IAMNE After what I have said.
DE Partitive; cf. 1.34, 66, 137; 3.259; 6.385; 15.92.
QUOTIENS PEDEM Cf. the parallels quoted by Otto pes 10 with efferre.
A The variant de is due to 28.
AUCTOR Teacher; cf. Stat. Silv. 2.2.113.
RIGIDI CENSURA Cf. 11.912; if we understand a mirthless laugh we need
not assume a transferred epithet. There is a cackling alliteration of c.
32 This is reversed in Lucian (on 2830).
UMOR Cf. 13.133; ILLE of the other.
34 sqq. ILLIS Of those days (tum quoque 47). Cf. Hor. Epist. 2.1.194 si foret in
terris rideret Democritus (the public shows), anon. AP 9.148.
35 Similar lists with a tinge of disparagement Sen. Dial. 2.12.2, De Ben. 1.5.6.
PRAETEXTAE 99; worn by the curule magistrates.
TRABEAE (8.259 and Gabelmann there cited; RE s.v.); now worn by augurs
and on ceremonial occasions by equites (Mommsen1 3.513), and in their case purple with a scarlet border.
FASCES Cf. 79, 8.136, 5.110.
LECTICA A mark of women of high rank (4.20, 6.351 and 477) or by now even
of men (1.32, 64, 159; 3.239; 7.132; 9.143; cf. Dio Cass. 60.2.3 and the special honour

402A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

at Suet. Claud. 28). Cf. RE s.v. 107981.

TRIBUNAL A platform on which curule chairs were set, 8.194.
36 A fortiori; he would have laughed at the pomp of Roman magistrates, and
would have laughed even harder at the pompa circensis (RE suppl. 5.610, 7.1627,
RSV 3.507, SG 2.36 = 2.44) led by the president of the games dressed as a triumphing general (11.194; Balsdon1 245, Wissowa 452, RE triumphus 500.37, H. S. |[458]
Versnel Triumphus (1970) 130). The president would normally be a praetor (36;
cf. on 8.194), and it is therefore hard to justify consul in 41 (quippe 41 prevents us
from supposing a change of scene). The word must be a gloss on something like
praeses. Scholte tentatively proposed to delete 412 (followed by Helbig Soc. Nat.
des Antiquaires de France, Centenaire 18041904, Recueil de Mmoires (1904) 181),
but SUDANS looks like Juvenal, and the lines are needed to explain what Juvenal means by his inexact expression that the magistrate is carrying (FERENTEM)
what is too heavy to be carried (40).
CURRIBUS ALTIS (poetic plural; cf. curru 42) Versnel 131; SUBLIMEM cf.
Livy 28.9.15, Tert. Apol. 33.4; PULVERE see on 8.61 (and 11.200).
38 The tunica palmata and toga picta (Marquardt 542) were the attire of Jupiter
Capitolinus and on each occasion were borrowed from his treasury; cf. Versnel 58,
72, 92; RE triumphus 504.62, 494.33; Warren JRS 60, 1970, 59.
PICTAE sc. acu, embroidered.
SARRANA i.e. Tyrian (on 1.27); it was of purple embroidered with gold (Versnel 56, RE l.c. 505.10).
AULAEA Of the broad folds and great size of the toga; compares Cic. Catil.
2.22 velis amictos, non togis.
CORONAE Cf. Versnel 567, 747; RE 506.32; J. W. Salomonson Chair, Sceptre and Wreath (1956) fig. 12 and p. 32 (one shown on the tomb of a praetor).
When this referred to the president of the games it became the praetoricia corona
of Mart. 8.33.1, who speaks of the lightness of one gold leaf from it; but Juvenals
assertion of its weight, matched by the heavy rhythm, explains why it was not
actually worn, but held by a public slave.
41 SIBI NE PLACEAT Cf. 6.276; to avoid nemesis, like the obscene songs of
the soldiers at a triumph; cf. Versnel 70 and 380, RE l.c. 506.67.
PUBLICUS SERVUS For the word-order cf. on 11.140. See L. Halkin Les
Esclaves Publics (1897) 723; he is clearly seen in Ryberg fig. 77a (cf. ibid. p. 142).
43 DA = adde. For the sceptre surmounted by an eagle cf. Versnel 60, RE l.c.
507.30, Warren JRS 60, 1970, 58.
44 CORNICINES RE l.c. 503.36.
OFFICIA The train of clients (such as may be seen in the procession on the
Arch of Titus) in their white togas. For OFFICIA (escort) cf. 2.132, 6.203 (of weddings); Suet. Iul. 71 inter officia prosequentium, Nero 28 celeberrimo officio deductum; Ovid Met. 15.6912; for NIVEOS Calp. Sic. 7.29 nivei tribules (as emended

SATIRE TEN403

by van Berchem, Rendic. Pontif. Accad. 18, 19412, 189), Mart. 1.55.14 urbanis albus
in officiis.
PRAECEDENTIA Cf. 7.142; they are anteambulones. |[459]
QUIRITES The formal word for citizens (cf. 3.60), here as 109 ironically hinting that they abase their station by servility.
46 Cf. on 1.95; the sportula will already have been distributed.
DEFOSSA Like buried treasure.
AMICOS A mercenary kind of friendship; cf. 5.14, 173.
47 MATERIAM RISUS 3.147, Sen. Dial. 2.18.1.
4950 Sen. Ep. 66.3 potest ex casa vir magnus prodire.
CUIUS The antecedent is the subject of INVENIT.
VERVECUM the paroemiographer Macarius 6.8 with
the note of SchneidewinLeutsch 2 p. 189. Pliny NH 8.199 quam stultissima ani
malium lanata, whence the point of Synesiuss remark (Dion 9 vol. 66 col. 1141
Migne) .
CRASSO SUB AERE This is alleged of Boeotia Hor. Epist. 2.1.244, Cic. De
Fato 7 (cf. De Nat. Deor. 2.42); the Black Sea has Menander Samia 109
(Sandbachs numeration). The idea that climate affects intellect goes right back
to the Hippocratic , , ; cf. Onians 78, Walbank HSCP
76, 1972, 156 and on Polyb. 4.201, Pease on Cic. De Div. 1.79 and De Nat. Der.
2.17, Watts Acta Classica (S.A.) 19, 1976, 85. Abdera was the birthplace not only of
Democritus, but also of Protagoras, Leucippus (?), Hecataeus and other intellectuals. It seems to be reproached for dullness first by Herodas 2.58, then Cicero (Otto
Abdera, Pease on De Nat. Der. 1.120); cf. Lamb PCPS 946, 1913, 11, Hendrickson
CP 22, 1927, 52 (Democritus fr. C 26).
51 Cf. the attitude taken by Pollius Felix (Stat. Silv. 2.2.12932), an Epicurean
and therefore a spiritual descendant of Democritus. IPSE in contrast to the volgus.
53 MANDARET LAQUEUM Cf. on 6.30 and Apul. Met. 9.36 suspendium
illis mandare, Lucian Timon 45 etc.; suspende te is a curse (Plautus passim, Ter.
Andr. 255, Sen. Dial. 5.23.2, CIL 4.1864 = E. Diehl Pompeianische Wandinschriften
489).
MEDIUM UNGUEM Cf. Mart. 2.28.12; the digitus infamis or impudicus held
out from the clenched hand like a phallus from the scrotum taunted a man as
a pathic (it is called and verpus). Cf. Sittl 101, RAC Finger 930 and
Genitalien 19, S. Seligmann Der Bse Blick (1910) 2.183, Henderson 213, Jahn Sitzb.
Schs. Akad. Leipzig 7, 1855, 812.
54 <QUAE> spelt que would readily be omitted before per through similarity
of contractions (Housman); the word is placed .
SUPERVACUA (cf. introduction) AUT PERNICIOSA Sen. De Ben. 6.27.7 votum tuum aut supervacuum est aut iniuriosum; Suet. De Rhet. p. 29.17 Brugnoli,
Sall. Iug. 1.5. |[460]

404A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

GENUA INCERARE DEORUM This may mean to cover the knees of the statues with wax tablets (cerae, tabulae votivae) on which vows were inscribed, and
will allude to the regular grasping of the knees in supplication (cf. also Homers
; Arnob. 6.6 haec signa quorum genua contingitis
et contrectatis orantes). But Gnilka, JAC 7, 1964, 52 attractively understands die
Vota auf den Statuen zu versiegeln (to fasten with wax), and quotes sources
which mention the thighs as the place for this (cf. SG 3.168 = 3.199). He thinks that
incerare is a comic substitute for inaurare (13.151); it is certainly hyperbolical, as if
the statues were covered with wax.
567 For the INVIDIA to which power is subject cf. Lucr. 5.1126, Sen. Ep. 84.11
and Dial. 11.9.5; Juvenal seems to hint some sympathy for Sejanus.
MERGIT shipwrecks, cf. 13.8; Sen. Ep. 55.3 aliquos Seiani odium, deinde
amor merserat (aeque enim offendisse illum quam amasse periculosum fuit).
PAGINA HONORUM A column of distinctions, i.e. tituli on statue bases
(1.130, 8.69); pagina of the consular fasti Livy 9.18.12, Pliny Pan. 92.2.
58 Cf. 8.18 of imagines; Vittinghoff 13; SG 2.279, 286 = 3.59, 66. Juvenal will have
seen such scenes after the death of Domitian (Suet. 23, Dio Cass. 68.1, Pliny Pan.
52), as we have in Budapest in 1956.
DESCENDUNT 14.61.
SECUNTUR Cf. 1.164; Pliny NH 35.4 ut frangat heres forisque detrahat laqueo
(furisque laqueum or -us codd.); [Sen.] Oct. 794 sqq. For the RESTIS cf. Libanius Or. 20.4, 22.8.
59 Chariot statues 7.126, 8.3, SG 2.290 = 3.71; the characteristic triumphal type
(Pliny NH 34.19). Though because of the links with the imperial cult the right of
having statues was limited (Vittinghoff 14 n. 32), there were many of Sejanus.
IMMERITIS Cf. Thes. s.v. 456.55 and Juv. 13.156; others are more guilty than
they are.
CABALLIS Cf. on 3.118; but here the word seems to suggest pity rather than
contempt.
62 ADORATUM Dio 58.2.78, 4.34, 6.2, 8.4, 11.2; Tac. Ann. 4.2; Suet. Tib.
48.2, 65.
CAPUT FACIE The rest of the statue would have been left (Vittinghoff 14
n. 37).
64 Cf. Pliny quoted on 58.
URCEOLI 3.203; pitchers.
PELVES 3.277, 6.441; basins.
SARTAGO A saucepan, cf. Blmner1 157, Hilgers 269; one of silver |[461] is
mentioned by Ulpian Dig. 34.2.19.12, but is merely ornamental. For the singular
surrounded by plurals cf. 7.11, 9.109, 2.169 and the equally anomalous plural at
11.139.
MATELLAE Chamber-pots (RE s.v., Blmner1 147), a scabrous anti-climax; cf.

SATIRE TEN405

Plut. Praec. Reip. Ger. 27.820e (statues of Demades), Diog. Laert. 5.77 and Strabo
9.1.20.398 (of Demetrius of Phalerum), Philo De Vita Contempl. 1.7.
65 PONE DOMI LAURUS 6.79 and 2278 for a marriage, 9.85 for a birth; also
for any occasion of rejoicing, private (6.512, 12.91) or public. Cf. Ogle AJP 31,
1910, 295 and the celebrations at the downfall of Nero, Dio 63.29.1 (Zonaras and
Jo. Antioch.).
DUO BOVEM Cf. 6.48, 12.2 (both in contexts where garlands are also mentioned). quotes Lucretius (meaning Lucil. 1145) cretatumque bovem duc[it] (or
duci[t]) ad Capitolia magna (-um conjectured by Wessner, and so involuntarily
quoted by Heinrich). Any dark spots would be covered with pipe-clay to make
sure that it was white (cf. niveam 12.2); see Latte 210, RE suppl. 5.245, Capdeville
Ml. c. Fran. Rome 83, 1971, 300. This passage may have the satiric point that a
pure white victim would be more expensive, and it would be an insult to the emperor to offer any less.
DUO (cf. 12.112) DUCITUR (cf. 5.125) is deliberate; Sejanus is like a victim
felled at the altar (cf. 268). Trahitur would be the technical term (99).
SEIANUS DUCITUR UNCO His corpse is being dragged from the carcer
(13.245) to the scalae Gemoniae (cf. 86); Suet. Tib. 61 etc., Dio Cass. 58.11. SPECTANDUS Cf. Plut. Galba 14 .
67 LABRA Indicating scorn, cf. 3.185, Quintil. 11.3.80; Lucil. 43 quae facies, qui
voltu viro!
68 NUNQUAM AMAVI Cf. Seneca quoted on 57; many of his friends shared
his fall, and of course many were eager to deny his friendship (Tac. Ann. 6.8, Dio
58.10.4 and 7, 12.3).
69 CECIDIT SUB CRIMINE Cf. Ovid Trist. 2.121 and on 4.12.
DELATOR delatores first became prominent in the reign of Tiberius, and had
been encouraged by Sejanus himself; cf. Baumann 11324 and on 3.118.
QUIBUS TESTE Cf. 6.21920; either ablative absolute or instrumental, cf.
Cic. Pro Clu. 38 nullo teste, nullo indice, Pro Cael. 6 rem teste confirmare. Index and
testis are often associated; in the case of Sejanus the coniurationis index (Tac. 6.47)
was Satrius Secundus. An index as contrasted with a delator is one who betrays his
accomplices, whereas the other denounces from outside.
71 EPISTULA Dio 58.910.
BENE HABET , all right; cf. KS 1.91, Thes. habeo 2451.48. |[462]
NIL PLUS INTERROGO Cf. 6.223 (see on 69 for this context), Hor. Serm.
2.3.188, Petron. 41.5.
73 REMI replaces Rml, as not infrequently in the poets (cf. Diodorus AP
9.219.3 = GowPage GP 2102 and Tatio 14.160). TURBA REMI (t. Quirini Ovid
Met. 14.607) means the plebeians, contrasted with those just depicted. For the
fickleness of the mob cf. Dio 58.11.12, Tac. Hist. 3.85, Yavetz 5 n. 1; for fortunam
sequi Heubner on Tac. Hist. 2.86.4.

406A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

NORTIA (So PA; nyrtia , nurtia (F)G, nursia ; for the forms cf. RE s.v.
1050.50.) The Etruscan goddess of Fortune (L. R. Taylor Local Cults in Etruria
(1923) 154 and RE), worshipped particularly at Volsinii, the birthplace of Sejanus
(Tac. Ann. 4.1.2, 6.8.3; CIL 11.7285 = ILS 8996 is an inscription of his parents). Sejanus had in his house a statue of Fortuna (Pliny NH 8.197, 36.163; Dio 58.7.2) which
turned its back on him just before his fall (Syme Hermes 84, 1956, 261).
SENECTUS PRINCIPIS See on 4.81.
SECURA Sejanus made Tiberius sibi uni incautum intectumque (Tac. Ann.
4.1); but Duff may be right in taking the word as part of the hypothesis.
HAC IPSA HORA Cf. 14.295.
77 Elections of magistrates were transferred to the senate by Tiberius in A.D. 14;
see Garzetti 23 and 565, Millar 302.
VENDIMUS for damus adds an extra bitter allusion to the
bribery which had marked the end of the republic. The present tense is like that
in 1.85.
EFFUDIT CURAS Has lost interest in politics (Tac. Ann. 1.15 neque populus
ademptum ius questus est nisi inani rumore; Dio 59.20.4).
79 Cf. 35, where fasces also are mentioned (but Juvenals attitude to such things
seems to have reversed), [Sen.] Oct. 676 sqq.
SE CONTINET 5.100, reins itself in.
PANEM ET CIRCENSES Cf. Fronto p. 199200 (Trajan), Tac. Ann. 15.36.4,
Juv. 8.11718 (q.v.). The same was said of the Alexandrians, Dio Chrys. 32.31, Joseph. AJ 19.1.16.130. Cf. SG 2.2 = 2.2.
PANEM Cf. 7.174, Tac. Hist. 4.38 volgus cui una ex re p. annonae cura. Apart
from the public distributions, it is not clear how far the state intervened in the
provision of bread; cf. RE pistor 1826, Marquardt 416 (but note that the baker M.
Vergilius Eurysaces who had a contract with the magistrates probably had it for
supplying the vigiles, praetorians etc.).
CIRCENSES Cf. 6.87, 3.223, 11.53 and 197.
The conversation is now resumed from 72, after the poets interposed comment. |[463]
82 MAGNA FORNACULA The epithet cancels the diminutive in colloquial
style (cf. Petron. 63.5 valde audaculum; HS 776); some thought such things solecistic, Quintil. 1.5.46. Another diminutive (PALLIDULUS) follows; cf. on 6.425.
The metaphor of the furnace is suggested by 61 sqq.
MI Juvenal nowhere else uses this form.
BRUTTIDIUS or Bruttedius (so Sen. Contr. and Tacitus) Niger, who in A.D.
22 as aedile prosecuted C. Iunius Silanus, Tac. Ann. 3.66 (where he is introduced
very ominously; he was probably prominent in the missing part of Ann. 5 which
covered the fall of Sejanus).
MARTIS ARAM In the Campus Martius; Latte 114 n. 3, Wissowa 142, Welin

SATIRE TEN407

Opusc. Rom. 1, 1954, 166.

845 Madvig 35 (and on similar lines Merry CR1 11, 1897, 26) explains thus:
Bruttidius was in the habit of declaiming in the schools (Sen. Contr. 2.1 (9).356),
where one of the stock controversiae was the armorum iudicium between Ajax and
Ulysses (ibid. 2.2 (10).8); Bruttidius had made a poor speech on the side of Ajax
and the speaker here (who is not really a friend in spite of meus) says ironically
that Ajax may be punishing B. for his loss of the case. This is incredibly frigid, and
it is hard to believe that the speech of B. would have retained its fame or infamy
until Juvenals time. Hertzberg sees Sejanus in Ajax (and Tiberius in Ulysses),
exacting vengeance from the underworld; this seems equally frigid and has no appropriateness to the context. Nor can the interpretation of P. Thomas (Rev. Phil.2
8, 1884, 108), some Ajax (i.e. someone himself involved in the fall of Sejanus)
may denounce us for abandoning him, create satisfaction. It is best to see Tiberius in Ajax (as Domitian is Agamemnon 4.65, q.v.); as Ajax in madness killed the
cattle (14.286), so Tiberius, who was suspected of suffering from senile dementia,
like Ajax when defeated in the armorum iudicium (8.269, 11.31) may slaughter
the citizens under the impression that he has been badly defended. Then Sejanus
will be Ulysses, and the point of the allusion will be that oblique references are a
prudent precaution in such circumstances. Difficulty however remains; male defensus has no application to Ajax (cf. 7.115) and hardly seems to suit Tiberius either
unless we suppose that he attempted to shift the blame for his incautious trust in
Sejanus to others. Victus too is quite unsuitable to Tiberius, and is not improved
by the emendations suggested.
86 Cf. Dio referred to on 66. RIPA of the Tiber; for exposure by the Tiber cf.
Weinstock 348 n. 1.
CALCEMUS Cf. 15.60.
87 QUIS sc. servorum. A treason charge was one of the few occasions when
slaves could lay information against their owner (Buckland 90, |[464] Baumann
43 and 55). PAVIDUM DOMINUM is not what the actual speaker would say, cf.
1.103.
CERVICE OBSTRICTA Cf. Thes. collum 1660.62, Plaut. Poen. 790 obtorto collo ad praetorem trahor, Tac. Ann. 4.70 trahebatur adstrictis faucibus, Cic. 2
Verr. 4.24, Lucian Catapl. 25 ; G.
Beseler Opora (1930) 29.
90 SALUTARI At the salutatio (cf. Dio 57.21, 58.5; Tac. Ann. 4.41.4 adsiduos
in domum coetus).
HABERE Cf. 14.207.
ILLI ILLUM Cf. 1967, 2.939 and hic hic 1.467, 3.216, 6.610; Thes. ille
355.66.
SUMMAS CURULES sc. sellas, cf. Stat. Silv. 3.3.115. Sejanus favour was a necessary passport to the consulship; cf. Tac. 4.68, 6.8.24, 4.2.3 neque senatorio am-

408A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

bitu abstinebat clientes suos honoribus aut provinciis ornandi.

92 e.g. his uncle Junius Blaesus, who was sent as proconsul of Africa to conduct
the campaign against Tacfarinas (Tac. 3.358, 724).
TUTOR As if the senex (75) Tiberius were a minor.
93 The lord of the world perched on a narrow crag, like a shepherd pasturing
his flock (grex) on cliffs (cf. Verg. Buc. 1.76; Capri, the rock of goats (capri), is
saepta undique praeruptis immensae altitudinis rupibus Suet. 40); he is exiled by
his own decree, cf. 170. SEDERE often carries a hint of sitting idly.
CUM GREGE CHALDAEO Especially Thrasyllus 6.576, cf. 553.
CERTE State and pomp at least, if not sole executive power.
PILA, COHORTES i.e. the praetorian guard (pilata cohors Mart. 10.48.2),
of which Sejanus was praefectus and which he first concentrated at Rome in the
castra praetoria (16.25, Tac. 4.2, Suet. 37, Dio 57.19.6). CASTRA DOMESTICA a
barrack at his disposal, which he treats as part of his own household.
EGREGIOS EQUITES This cannot allude to equites singulares (cf. RE s.v. 313),
since we can hardly accuse Juvenal of the anachronism of attributing this comparatively recent innovation to the time of Sejanus (they are first definitely attested in
A.D. 113; M. Speidel Die Equites Singulares (1965) 912). Nor to the title vir egregius
(Thes. egregius 288.64, RE equites Romani 308, O. Hirschfeld Kl. Schr. 652), a common style of equestrian magnates as vir clarissimus of senators; this is post-Juvenalian. The praetorian guard had some cavalry, but though it was an elite corps
(see Sixteen, introduction) that could not justify the epithet egregios. The allusion
must be to the class among the equites which possessed the senatorial census and
was selected by the emperor to enter on a career as procurator Augusti |[465] (quae
equestris nobilitas est Tac. Agr. 4.1), regularly called inlustres, insignes, splendidi
and contrasted with equites modici; see RE l.c., Mommsen1 3.563, Stein 98 sqq. and
420, Nicolet 228 (Hill CQ1 22, 1928, 77 and 23, 1929, 33 refers such titles to courtiers
of equestrian rank). They might perform part of their militia equestris (on 1.58) as
tribunus cohortis praetoriae.
967 Cf. Ovid Her. 12.75.
989 = ut paria mala accipere velis, cf. on 3.54.
99 PRAETEXTAM (cf. 35). Sejanus was given the ornamenta praetoria in A.D.
20 and was consul in the year of his death in A.D. 31; cf. Dio 58.11.2.
100 FIDENARUM GABIORUMQUE 6.56; cf. on 170.
POTESTAS In a concrete sense, Italian podest; so Verg. Aen. 10.18 (Cic. Tusc.
1.74 is not a case, Quintil. 7.1.32 is marginal; I have not located the instance in Vitruvius alluded to by HS 748); the plural is well attested from the elder Pliny. Cf.
honor 1.110, 117 and on 4.71.
1012 From Pers. 1.130, with Ulubrae from Hor. Epist. 1.11.30 (cf. on 6.56 for
Gabii and Fidenae in the same passage). For the aediles of country towns cf. 3.179
and RE s.v. 462; weights and measures are the humble sphere of their jurisdiction

SATIRE TEN409

(Blmner1 642 n. 3, Langhammer 150).

PANNOSUS Even on feast-days their dress is not conspicuous (3.178); but Juvenal exaggerates their informality.
VACUIS Cf. 3.2.
VASA MINORA Cf. Festus 246 publica pondera = FIRA 1 p. 79.
1057 He is thinking of the fall of the tower at Verg. Aen. 2.4607; cf. Hor.
Odes 2.10.10 (where see NisbetHubbard), [Sen.] Oct. 379 sqq.; Lucian Charon 14,
Navig. 40 .
NUMEROSA Cf. 7.151; TABULATA cf. 3.199.
PRAECEPS A noun, cf. 1.149, Sen. Ep. 94.73, Stat. Silv. 1.4.51; RUINAE the
falling tower, cf. 11.13.
UNDE ESSET A result is described in terms of a purpose (cf. HS 642, KS
2.251). R. G. Nisbet AJP 44, 1923, 28 thinks that the purpose is that of destiny;
but perhaps we should rather say that the agent is blinded so that he cannot see
what achieving his ends actually involves, and the desired outcome is ironically
replaced by the actual, cf. 167.
1089 i.e. Julius Caesar. The plurals may be generic (men like Pompey and
Crassus, the other members of the first triumvirate), in which case for the combination with the singular Caesar cf. on 11.91; or it may include the sons of Pompey
and Crassus.
FLAGRA As if the Romans (ironically given their most formal |[466] name, cf.
45) were his slaves (cf. 5.173, Suet. Aug. 94, Macrob. Sat. 2.7.4) or tamed animals
(cf. 2.169, 5.154).
110 i.e. petitio summi loci; see index nouns. Sen. Ep. 95.3 inter illos quos honores
nulla non arte atque opera petiti discruciant et ceteros malorum suorum compotes.
111 MALIGNIS The veneer of di faciles (78) is stripped off; cf. Verg. Aen.
11.1578 nulli exaudita deorum / vota. If he promises to repay great things, he must
have asked for great things.
112 GENERUM CERERIS Pluto (13.50).
REGES Tyrants; the tyrannicide is a commonplace of rhetoric (on 7.151).
Pompey, Caesar and Crassus (who were reges Cic. Ad Q. Fr. 1.2.16) all died by the
sword.
For the interlaced word-order in 11213 cf. index word-order, .
115 QUINQUATRIBUS The feast of Minerva, goddess of arts and wisdom, on
1923 March (properly only on 19 March; ML Minerva 2987, Frazer on Ovid Fasti
3.809), particularly observed by teachers and scholars (Ovid 829 and 815) as a holiday (Hor. Epist. 2.2.1978); cf. Latte 165, Wissowa 254.
116 UNO ASSE The stips or contribution to a gods treasury (Varro LL 5.182);
this appears to have been collected by the teacher and given to the goddess (ML
l.c. 2986.48). The little boy wants in return that Minerva should give him eloquence (cf. Ovid 81516).

410A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ADHUC He cannot yet pay any more.

PARCAM The scholiasts explanation vilioris pretii fictile Minervae signum is
to be dismissed as based on the reading of partam (uno asse). Doubtless we have
a transferred epithet economical, in sense belonging to asse (cf. Mart. 8.33.12 cum
parco asse). Heinsius on Ovid 829 understands Minervam qua parce adhuc puer
est imbutus, following the scholiast aut qui tenue adhuc eloquium habet; Minerva
is sparing of her gifts to the boy, as he is to her. This however seems more critical
of Minerva and the boy than the context warrants. Perhaps she is thrifty, building up her treasure from tiny contributions.
117 The capsarius; the capsa was used for transport of books.
VERNULA Even he only rates a modest diminutive.
118 Sen. Rem. Fort. 12.4 si muti fuissent Cicero et Demosthenes, et diutius vixissent et lenius obiissent; [Quintil.] quoted in the introduction.
PERT Perfect; see on 3.174.
LETO DEDIT An old Roman formula here used ironically; the solemn announcement of a funeral was ollus Quiris leto datus (Thes. do 1695.26; Jocelyn
on Enn. Trag. 283 p. 409, E. Norden Aus Altrmischen Priesterbchern (1939) 61,
Waszinck Mnem.4 19, 1966, 249).
LARGUS FONS Cf. 9, 128; Ovid Trist. 3.14.34, Cic. Pro Marcell. 4. |[467]
120 INGENIO Ablative, meaning propter ingenium, cf. eloquio 118. This refers
to Cicero, whose head and hand(s) were fastened up on the rostra; it was his ingenium that Antony hated (Sen. Suas. 7.1 and 7).
NEC See on 3.102.
1201 apply the lesson of 18 to eloquence. Heads of those executed were often
displayed on the rostra (as late as Domitian, Dio Cass. 67.11.3).
CAUSIDICI PUSILLI A mere puny causidicus (see on 7.106), not an orator
(118); for the contrast cf. 11.34 (Matho being a causidicus, 1.32), Cic. De Or. 1.202,
Tac. Dial. 1.1.
122 Ciceros (in)famous line from his poem De Consulatu Suo, much derided
for its vanity and (Quintil. 9.4.41) its assonance. Juvenal mocks the latter with
another assonance si sic; apart from verbal endings in -et and -at followed by et or
atque, such assonance is rare in him (4.146, 5.129, 6.426, 7.73 and 168, 10.1, 14.43,
15.87 and in a fixed phrase 7.162).
123 Cic. Phil. 2 (referred to 125).118 contempsi Catilinae gladios, non pertimescam tuos. Antony ridiculed Ciceros verses (ibid. 20).
125 DIVINA A term of literary praise (3.207 and often).
126 VOLVERIS i.e. evolveris, cf. 6.452, 15.30; it is unrolled to be read.
A PRIMA PROXIMA Next to (counting from) the first, cf. 247, Ovid RA 404
and Trist. 5.8.38; Juvenal mocks poetic circumlocution of numbers, cf. 4.16. But
note also Colum. 3.20.2 proximum a primo.
ET ILLUM Who also wrote Philippics.

SATIRE TEN411

128 TORRENTEM Cf. on 9 and the fuller simile in Hor. Serm. 1.7.278; but it
must be a faded metaphor (cf. 13.8, 14.27) unless we are to assume a mixed metaphor with MODERANTEM FRENA (with which cf. Ovid Ex Ponto 2.9.33, Plut.
Praec. Reip. Ger. 5.801cd, 802d.)
THEATRI This was used on a number of occasions for the ecclesia instead of
the Pnyx, e.g. before Chaeronea (Diod. Sic. 16.845); W. A. McDonald Political
Meeting-places of the Greeks (1943) 56. Juvenal probably chooses it to compare
Demosthenes by implication to an actor (cf. Cic. Brut. 6 forum populi Romani,
quod fuisset quasi theatrum illius ingeni).
129 He arouses sympathy (cf. on 56) for Demosthenes by suggesting that he
was not responsible for his career. Cf. 1.50, Pers. 4.27, Otto deus 9 and Nachtrge
4, Thes. deus 893.83. Suffering was regarded as a mark of divine displeasure (as
in the case of Job). Juvenal is probably not thinking either of his physical defects
which affected his pronunciation (RE Demosthenes 1712) or of the fraud of his
guardians.
1302 Demosthenes father was a prosperous gentleman who owed part of his
wealth to a sword-factory, whence he was called (Plut. Dem. 4.2 etc.,
cf. Val. Max. 3.4 ext. 2 cultellos venditasse); |[468] this readily lent itself to distortion in the rhetorical schools (cf. on 4.323, 8.246, 15.114). Cf. the stories about the
mother of Euripides (see Rennie on Aristoph. Ach. 457) and Nisbets edition of
Cic. In Pis. p. 194, Fairweather Ancient Society 5, 1974, 246.
LUTEO VOLCANO grimy blacksmiths work or smoky fire; cf. 7.25 for the
metonymy and 13.445, Dirae 1734 for the portrait of Vulcan.
133 TRUNCIS TROPAEIS (poetic plural) The simplest form of trophy was
a tree stripped of its branches (cf. Suet. Cal. 45, Verg. Aen. 11.15 sqq., Plut. Rom.
16.5); see Woelcke Bonner Jahrb. 120, 1911, 143. Juvenal emphasises that most of the
trophies are broken, which has obvious symbolic value.
BUCCULA The cheek-piece; CURTUM TEMONE IUGUM the yoke of a
chariot with the pole broken off; APLUSTRE the stern-ornament of a ship, cf.
Woelcke 152, Torr 68.
136 ARCU A triumphal arch, cf. Lucan 8.819 exstructos spoliis hostilibus arcus
and the temple of Mars in Stat. Th. 7.55 sqq.; like the captive Dacians on the Arch
of Constantine, taken from that of Trajan. Cf. RE Triumphbogen 478.5, 479.22,
480.29. The series of appositions to EXUVIAE should be ended with a comma
after arcu.
137 They make a man immortalis or caelestis (cf. 1.38) with happiness. Cf. Hor.
Epist. 1.17.334 res gerere et captos ostendere civibus hostes / attingit solium Iovis et
caelestia temptat.
GRAIUS Like Alexander; this rather than Graecus is usual when the Greeks
are being contrasted with other nationalities, cf. 15.110, Cic. De Rep. 1.58 and on
11.100 (though see e.g. Quintil. 5.10.24).

412A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ROMANUS He does not actually give a Roman exemplum.

BARBARUS like Hannibal and Xerxes.
INDUPERATOR The context clearly deflates the grandeur of the archaism
(4.29).
CAUSAS INDE HABUIT Cf. 278; one might have expected hinc here, resuming HOC 137 with an anaphora.
1412 QUIS TOLLAS? should go in parenthesis; TAMEN refers back over
this.
IPSAM For her own sake; cf. Ovid Trist. 5.14.312, Ex Ponto 2.3.1114 and 356,
Sen. Dial. 7.9.4, Cic. Pro Milone 96.
142 OLIM at times (Tracy CW 69, 1976, 432): GLORIA ambition (Thes. 2085.15,
Naegelsbach 48.2).
TITULI CUSTODIBUS Cf. 6.230 and on 5.110, 8.69.
145 Cf. Mart. 10.2.9 etc.; Thes. caprificus 359.32.
STERILIS The wild fig cannot propagate itself; nor can their hoped-for fame,
which cannot resist it.
147 HANNIBALEM i.e. his ashes, cf. 242, Prop. 4.11.14 etc. |[469]
148 CAPIT contains, cf. 168, 11.171 and 197, 13.74, 14.320; Plut. Alex. 6.2
.
14850 i.e. bounded on the West by the Atlantic (cf. on 2.1) off the coast of
Mauretania and on the East by the Nile as far backwards (RURSUS = retroversus,
i.e. southwards, cf. 12.76; an archaism in this sense) as Ethiopia, taken to be the
S.E. boundary. Juvenal does not mention the northern boundary, which is obvious, nor the southwestern extent, which was unknown.
ALIOS ELEPHANTOS Those of Ethiopia, particularly associated with Elephantine (11.124), contrasted with the Indian (11.125). Cf. Stat. Th. 10.85 Aethiopas
alios, i.e. the Western contrasted with the Eastern (there as here alios replaces
ltrs in the sense a second set of); Val. Fl. 2.382 vigilem alium draconem, the
Colchian contrasted with that of the Hesperides (14.114). In each case, typically of
the allusive style of Silver poetry, the other item is not mentioned in the context
and has to be mentally supplied. Here we should not interpret other than those of
Mauretania (158), since the elephants of Africa form one family.
TEPENTI Prop. 2.33.3, Sen. Oed. 606.
151 For the pause before the spondaic ending cf. on 1.52.
152 Sen. Ep. 51.5 Hannibalem indomitum nivibus atque Alpibus. Hannibal
jumps lightly over the heavy spondaic mass of the Pyrenees (cf. Pyrenen ending
the line at Lucan 1.689). For -QUE -QUE see on 5.49; the singular ALPEM
(contrast 166) found since Ovid is chosen for the rhyme.
NATURA Cf. Cic. De Prov. Cons. 34; it is hybris to override her intentions.
153 Cf. Livy 21.37, Appian Bell. Hann. 4.
1538 All these lines have a spondaic fourth foot followed by diaeresis; this is

SATIRE TEN413

clearly meant to convey the effect of one hammer-blow after another.

154 After Cannae, when he was expected to attack Rome (7.1623).
155 ACTI was bound to be corrupted to actum; Housman quotes Sen. Med. 993,
NQ 6.5.3; Pliny Ep. 2.11.1 (cf. also Quintil. 4.2.21, 7.1.50). For the thought cf. Lucan
2.657 (Caesar).
MILITE Ablative of instrument, cf. on 9.150 and Ovid Fasti 5.562.
FRANGIMUS PONO These may both mean I; or perhaps the former
means I and my army, the latter I the general.
SUBURA The grand general is coupled with this seedy district (3.5, 11.51), which
Martial represents Juvenal himself as frequenting (see p. 2); a humourless writer
would have made Hannibal name the Capitol. For MEDIA cf. Mart. 12.21.5. |[470]
157 FACIES sight (cf. Petron. 82.5, Tac. Ann. 1.41.1); TABELLA caricature.
158 Livy 22.2.1011, Polyb. 3.79.12. BELUA Cf. 11.126, 12.104.
GAETULA For the elephants of Mauretania, where a few still survive, see Scullard 24. However some at least of Hannibals elephants may have been Indian
(Scullard 170, Toynbee 36).
159 GLORIA resumes 143.
160 FUGIT Not until 196 or 195 B.C., six or seven years after his defeat at Zama;
he did not arrive in Bithynia until about 190, and his suicide took place between
183 and 181 B.C.
MAGNUS MIRANDUSQUE For the alliterative pair cf. Wlfflin 266 and ALL
3, 1886, 449.
161 Roman customs are observed in Bithynia! Cf. 250, 1778.
SEDET A suppliants posture, waiting for King Prusias to hold his salutatio;
Hannibal has to get up early like a Roman client (3.129 vigilare; Sen. Dial. 10.14.4
suum somnum rumpunt ut alienum exspectent). PRAETORIA embraces both
palace and mansion (1.75). REGIS and TYRANNO are the same person; cf. on
8.120.
163 RES HUMANAS The whole world. FINEM DABUNT (the future announcing destiny) cf. Thes. do 796.65 (and similarly with pausam). Two Indo-European roots have coalesced in dare, and this is one of the cases in which *dhe (to
put or make) is more prominent.
166 ANULUS In which he carried poison; this romanticised detail is elsewhere found only in Aurel. Vict. Vir. Ill. 42.6 (cf. on 185). The one-word climax in
a new line punctures the preceding grandeur. Juvenal is doubtless thinking of the
Roman rings sent back to Carthage after Cannae.
I ET In this challenging form (details in Lease AJP 19, 1898, 59) Juvenal
elsewhere uses i nunc; cf. De Decker 173n. and on 1.145, 12.57. The combination
here with another verb of motion shows that the original sense of i has been lost
from sight; cf. 2 l.c.
167 UT Cf. on 106.

414A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

PUERIS PLACEAS They like this romantic theme.

DECLAMATIO FIAS 7.1603. Aristoph. Peace 148 ,
, Theocr. 12.11.
168 Cf. 14.313; Val. Max. 8.14 ext. 2; Sen. Suas. 1.5 orbis illum suus non capit (cf.
148; this Alexander-suasoria often mentions the orbis, cf. De Decker 42); Curtius
7.8.12; Lucan 5.356 quibus hic non sufficit orbis, 10.455 (Caesar).
PELLAEO The point of this is made clear by Sen. Ep. 119.8 ille modo ignobilis anguli non sine controversia dominus tacto fine terrarum per suum rediturus
orbem tristis est.
169 Like the sea churning in a narrow channel, cf. Lucan 6.63 |[471] aestuat angusta rabies civilis harena; Sen. Suas. 1.3 Alexandro orbis angustus est.
170 Cf. 1.73, 6.564, 13.246 and Otto Nachtrge 90; the two together Sen. Dial.
12.6.4. Gyaros (Yaros) was used for the same purpose under the regime which
emerged from the coup of 1967. H. Valesius proposed to read parvave, and similar
questions arise at 100, 3.169, 6.575, 6.77 (after aut), 11.34 (with et). Scribes show a
strong tendency to corrupt -ve to -que (Housman on Manil. 1.475), but the correctness of et in such a case is guaranteed by metre at Verg. Aen. 5.52. English idiom would suggest that e.g. 6.575 would mean one journey with two destinations,
whereas Latin can take it to mean two journeys on separate occasions. Cf. Fordyce
on Cat. 45.6, Bmer on Ov. Met. 6.616.
CLAUSUS Cf. Tac. Ann. 14.63.1.
171 Hardly a flattering description of the brick walls of Babylon (Herod. 1.178
83, Curtius 5.1.25 etc.), where Alexander died; it is a parody of poetic doctrina,
which loved such allusive descriptions, and implies that his conquests came to a
miserable end.
172 Stat. Silv. 2.7.95 angusto Babylon premit sepulchro. SARCOPHAGO is the
first occurrence of the word in this sense (Blmner1 502 n. 8).
FATETUR shows, cf. 15.132 and Thes. s.v. 342.48.
QUANTULA Cf. 147; the second diminutive reinforces the effect, cf. Hofmann
p. 141.
173 OLIM is usually taken with creditur it has long been believed (cf. 6.346);
but credimus 176 is against this. Juvenal is (wrongly) sceptical about this canal.
QUICQUID whatever else, cf. 13.83, quae 178 and on 3.7.
GRAECIA HISTORIA Cf. 14.240; Pliny NH 5.4 portentosa Graeciae mendacia, 8.82, 28.112; Val. Max. 4.7.3. On Greek historians see Quintil. 2.4.19, Tac.
Hist. 2.4.1, Censorin. 17.3; the fabulous element in Herodotus was often remarked
(Wardman 105).
AUDET Cf. 2.2.
As 1738 are punctuated by Clausen the naval references are grouped together
and CREDITUR and CREDIMUS are placed in corresponding positions. Housman preferred to put the semi-colon after historia rather than mare, so that one

SATIRE TEN415

sentence ends with quicquid Graecia audet, the other with cantat quae Sostratus,
both summarising phrases.
CONSTRATUM CLASSIBUS MARE The ships were so numerous that
they paved the sea (cf. Livy 35.49.6, Curtius 9.6.7 and 8.5, Manil. 1.776 Persidis et
victor (Themistocles at Salamis) strarat quae (qui the best mss.) classibus aequor);
Herod. 7.45 . |[472]
ISDEM The same as sailed through Athos; though this seems weak.
SOLIDUM MARE A paradoxical way of referring to the bridge over the Hellespont (Herod. 7.36).
177 This looks pleonastic, but it is rather a case of epexegesis. See Herod. 7.21.1
(cf. 43.1, 58.3, 108.2, 187.1, 196.3). EPOTA sc. esse.
PRANDENTE lunching, ironical; the prandium was a light meal. No doubt
the application of this Roman word to the Persians (as to the gods, 13.46) is humorous; cf. 161.
SOSTRATUS says that he was a poet; J. O. Thomson CR2 1, 1951, 3 identifies
him with Sosistratus, who according to Aristotle Poet. 26.1462a in epic recitation
overdid gesticulation, and suggests that the name in Aristotle should be emended;
but Juvenals description implies someone nearer to his own time.
MADIDIS ALIS The perspiration gathers in his arm-pits (11.157) because of his
vehement delivery.
179 ILLE The person in question, Xerxes; cf. 278, 1.97, 3.264, 6.330.
180 SOLITUS Exaggerated (cf. Hor. Serm. 1.7.34); it only happened once
(Herod. 7.35, who however says that it was the sea that was whipped when the
storm broke the bridge over the Hellespont). This exaggeration shows clearly how
Juvenal is liable to refer to exceptions as if they were the rule (cf. on 2.512 and p.
25).
CORUS (14.267) is the WNW wind, Eurus the ESE; so Juvenal has in mind the
common ancient view that storms are due to the conflict of opposing winds (Sen.
NQ 5.16.12, Austin on Verg. Aen. 1.85, Morford (on 12.234) 40, Tarrant on Sen.
Ag. 476, Friedrich in Festschr. B. Snell (1956) 79).
BARBARUS As shown by his behaviour, cf. Plut. Fort. Alex. 2.12.342e
, .
AEOLIO IN CARCERE Cf. 5.101, Thes. carcer 437.43; a prison is where one
might normally expect whipping.
182 Herod. 7.35 and 54.3; 8.109.3.
183 Read SANE. QUID? NON CREDIDIT? (So E. W. Weber Animadversiones (1820) p. 17). Herodotus had heard that he actually did this (7.35; cf. Plut.
De Cohib. Ira 5.455d), the crowning absurdity should not be denied, and with the
reading of the mss. the following remark HUIC DEORUM lacks motivation.
VELLET would have wished; KS 1.17980, Woodcock p. 91.
SERVIRE As Neptune had served Laomedon and Apollo Admetus. The pun-

416A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ishments mentioned are those of slaves, chains (11.80, 14.23), branding (14.24) and
whipping (14.19); cf. Herod. 7.35. |[473]
185 SED resumes 179; cf. 318. Juvenal compresses the events, as if Xerxes returned direct from Salamis.
UNA NAVE A romantic post-Herodotean detail (cf. on 166); Justin 2.13.910,
Joseph. BJ 2.16.4.358 and perhaps implied Dio Chrys. 14.8.
CRUENTIS FLUCTIBUS Aesch. Pers. 41920.
187 Petron. 120.66 hos gloria reddit honores; GLORIA is meant to recall 143
(though the sense is slightly different) by the technique of ring-composition (see
index s.v.).
TOTIENS goes primarily with EXEGIT, in order to round off the paragraph
133 sqq. with an epiphonema; but its influence may well also extend to OPTATA.
188 sqq. For the following description of the penalties of old age cf. Pliny 7.168,
Lucian Dial. Mort. 6.2. Of the passages collected by Stobaeus Flor. 4.50.2 (116) (vol.
5 p. 1036), that by Juncus (the man mentioned 15.27? Oliver Hesperia 36, 1967, 42)
most resembles Juvenal (pp. 10501)

. Cf. also Lucil. 331 quod deformi senex, arthriticus ac podagrosus / est,
quod mancu miserque, exilis, ramice magno.
188 DA DA in prayers Pers. 2.456, Verg. Aen. 3.85.
189 RECTO VOLTU Cf. 6.401 recta facie of the set face of self-assurance. PALLIDUS Cf. 13.223 ad omnia fulgura pallent; i.e. anxious, apprehensive. The whole
line probably means whether you have a clear or a bad conscience, or possibly
with set face and anxious with desire (or, with apprehension that the prayer may
not be granted). Other interpretations are open to grave objections. For the variants, which grew from glosses, see BICS 14, 1967, 46. A comma after the second
HOC would be an improvement.
191 ANTE OMNIA Cf. 11.192, 2.44; first and foremost.
192 SUI This pronoun regularly is in the genitive after (dis)similis, cf. KS 1.449;
elsewhere Juvenal invariably has the dative.
1923 DEFORMEM RUGAS Cf. 6.144, 11.203.
194 The elevated tone, indicating parody of an unidentifiable source, contrasts
with the sordid context and the let-down in 195. For apes as a symbol of ugliness
cf. Brecht 62.
THABRACA In Numidia; for the forests and apes there cf. Posidonius fr. 245
KiddEdelstein ap. Strabo 17.3.4.827 and McDermott 58.
SCALPIT She has the wrinkles engraved in her cheeks; for this type of expression cf. Prop. 4.3.27 diceris et vultum macie tenuasse, Callim. Hymn 5.756,
Fordyce on Cat. 64.305, Gow on Theocr. 24.124.
195 IAM I do not know how to explain this word; it would most |[474] naturally
go with MATER and imply that apes do not bear young until late in life, but in

SATIRE TEN417

spite of Robson CR1 22, 1908, 245 this is zoologically false.

197 Ovid Am. 2.10.7 pulchrior hac illa est, haec est quoque pulchrior illa. Housmans ORE should be accepted provisionally (see ed. 2 p. liii); it is ablative of
quality (linked with the adjective PULCHRIOR by ATQUE, cf. 11.96), meaning
handsomer and differently featured. One may wonder whether had this in his
text and misunderstood it to mean mouth, since he notes alter eloquens.
MULTUM See on 12.66.
198 et vox et membra tremunt; cf. 6.563, 16.56.
199 MADIDI NASI Cf. 6.1478 (and with gravis there cf. 201),
Lucian Dial. Mort. 9.2 INFANTIA second childhood; cf. on 13.33 and Juncus quoted on 188 sqq.
2001 MISERO (-is AL) GRAVIS A striking change to the singular; cf.
index variation.
FRANGENDUS 5.68.
It seems inconsequential to say he is so loathsome to his family that he disgusts
even legacy-hunters; cf. 3.257, 8.19. Cf. Ovid Met. 9.770 nataeque sibique, Mart.
13.17.1 moveant fastidia. Legacy-hunters (see on 3.128, 8.21) could usually be counted upon to have strong stomachs, Epictet. 4.1.148.
203 Cf. Plato Rep. 1.329, Plut. An Seni Resp. 5.786ab.
204 <I dont count impotence>, for ; cf. 6.444 and often.
2056 Cf. 3256. IACET Ovid Am. 3.7.65 etc.; NERVUS 9.34 etc. IACET
IACEBIT Verg. Aen. 6.617 sedet aeternumque sedebit.
206 Cf. 6.197, Ovid l.c. 73 etc. The penis is as torpid as the spondees.
207 ALIQUID A sexual euphemism; Catull. 64.145, Thes. s.v. 1615.59. CANITIES See on 14.10.
208 i.e. he has to resort to oral sex, cf. Mart. 3.75, 4.50, 6.26, 11.25 and 46; Suet.
Tib. 44.1 aetate.
SUSPECTA Cf. 11.188.
209 PARTIS Faculty (that of hearing); DAMNUM cf. 233.
212 Does this refer to citharodes or tibicines? Citharodes regularly wore gorgeous robes in the theatre (Lucian Adv. Ind. 810), but normally a long chiton or
palla (RE s.v. 154.60, Marquardt 580, Blmner1 234; inaurata, Ad Herenn. 4.60);
so, though Nero, who played the cithara, wore a chlamys in his procession (Suet.
25.1), the reference is probably to tibicines (Hor. AP 215 tibicen traxitque vagus per
pulpita vestem), who may have worn a chlamys or lacerna (for which see on 1.27).
Then 21012 may be paraphrased quae voluptas cantante cantore etiam eximio sive
cithara cantante Seleuco (accompanying his singing on the lyre) tibiisve tibicinibus?; with the tibicines cantare |[475] will mean playing a musical instrument cf.
2.118. Admittedly ET might suggest that Seleucus and the players of 212 form one
group; then QUIBUS would mean any others who (cf. on 173).
214 For the orchestra at Roman theatrical performances (e.g. pantomimes;

418A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Wille 181) cf. Sen. Ep. 84.10, Balsdon1 2867, SG 2.345 = 2.172.
216 PUER The cubicularius; Marquardt 144, Blmner1 44.
QUOT NUNTIET HORAS Slaves were sent to watch horologia and solaria and
report the time, Mart. 8.67.1, Pliny Ep. 3.1.8, Thes. hora 2958.63. See Balsdon1 18,
Blmner1 3756, Marquardt 256 and 789; for public clocks cf. ILS 5392, 561725.
217 GELIDO Cf. on 6.325, 11.6; Verg. Aen. 5.293 gelidus tardante senecta / sanguis hebet frigentque effetae in corpore vires (supporting IN here; see the apparatus).
MINIMUS The old are regularly supposed to lack blood (Val. Max. 3.8.5 and
often the poets).
218 FEBRE CALET SOLA Not even with this in Mart. 3.93.17.
AGMINE (Thes. s.v. 1347.11) FACTO 3.162, a Vergilian tag; cf. febrium cohors
Hor. Odes 1.3.31.
QUORUM QUAERAS Cf. Dio Chrys. 6.23
.
219 A parody of passages like Verg. Georg. 2.1038, Ovid Trist. 4.1.55 sqq., Ex
Ponto 2.7.25 sqq., [Lucian] Amores 2; cf. Canter AJP 51, 1930, 38.
OPPIA Cf. 322; here there are variants Eppia, Ippia, there Optia. Her adulterers
are like those of Larga, 14.268.
221 THEMISON The name of a famous doctor of Augustan date from whom
sprang the Methodic school (RE s.v. no. 7; suppl. 6 Methodiker = L. Edelstein
Ancient Medicine (1967) 1739, 1878; E. D. Phillips Greek Medicine (1973) 163).
But this is probably a contemporary of Juvenal named after him (cf. SG 4.262 =
4.201 and see on 6.63; an incestuous Themison, Mart. 12.20), just as later a slave of
Apuleius (Apol. 33, 40) and a doctor (ibid. 48; evidently not identical).
AUTUMNO The unhealthy time (4.56, 6.517).
OCCIDERIT A standing joke against doctors, common in Martial; cf. also AP
11.11226.
222 BASILUS Not the causidicus of 7.145; it is a cognomen of the Minucii (cf.
Thes. s.v., Schulze LEG 418 n. 3), as HIRRUS of the Lucilii.
SOCIOS Business partners; CIRCUMSCRIPSERIT PUPILLOS 1.46, 15.1356.
For the combination cf. Hor. Epist. 2.1.1223.
224 MAURA 6.307. For EXSORBEAT cf. 6.126 (if genuine); LONGA (cf. 6.351)
implies her physical stamina. |[476]
HAMILLUS Amillus GUHLZ, and so the mss. at Mart. 7.62; but Hamillus
is found on Ann. Epigr. 1952 no. 162, 1962 no. 284. CIL 4.3710 = E. Diehl Pompeianische Wandinschriften 544 shows Hamillus spelt in reverse, which Bche
ler (over?)ingeniously took to symbolise sexual inversion; if Juvenal means this
man, it is another case in which he is speaking of the dead as alive (cf. on 8.39),
since the inscription must pre-date A.D. 79.
INCLINET 9.26. Schoolmasters were often reproached with immorality (SG

SATIRE TEN419

1.159 = 1.179, Bonner 105); Quintil. 1.2.45, 1.3.17, 2.2.1 sqq., Suet. De Gramm. 23
(Remmius Palaemon, cf. 7.215), Lucian Symp. 26, Strato AP 12.219 etc.
2256 These lines were deleted by Griffith2 105 (following a hint by Helm (l.c.
on 325) 26) as a decency-interpolation intended to be substituted for 2204 and
using 1.25. The suggestion has its attractions (the lines seem an anti-climax), but
for the repetition of lines see on 365 and 16.41, and for protracted lists p. 37.
QUOT VILLAS Cf. on 1.94.
227 Cf. 14.156, Maecenas ap. Sen. Ep. 101.11 debilem facito manu, / debilem pede
coxo (coxa a weakly-supported variant).
ILLE HIC HIC Cf. on 3.69.
[Addendum, originally on p. 623: 228 sqq. See Syme AJP 100, 1979, 2534 on this
passage in relation to Pliny Ep. 8.18.]
228 Sen. Ep. 122.4 quanto plus tenebrarum in animo est! ille invidet caecis.
229 PALLIDA Because of his minimus sanguis 217. Cf. Pliny Ep. 3.16.8 servulos
aliquos quorum e manu cibum capiat (here too a few mss. read capiunt, but for
the rhythm cf. 6.327, 15.81; it may be taken to mimic a greedy gulp, the dactyls
contrasting with the slow spondees of 230).
230 Hor. Serm. 1.10.7 risu diducere rictum / auditoris.
TANTUM Not doing anything for himself, cf. 7.31.
2312 A humorous use of a Homeric simile; IEIUNA has no point in this context but is retained from the original, Iliad 9.323.
232 OMNI any cf. 303 and on 8.209.
233 MAIOR is attracted by dementia from maius (damnum, cf. 210); cf. Cic.
De Off. 3.44 tales, De Div. 1.112 nullam, and ulla from quicquam Tac. Ann. 14.15.3,
Quintil. 10.1.65, nullam from nihil Cic. De Leg. 1.49; see also Tac. Dial. 32 quoted
by KS 1.34.
Scholte proposed qua, but 2389 is a yet stronger case of this natural negligence
of expression.
234 Not to recognise familiars was counted as a symptom of insanity (Nisbet
on Cic. In Pis. 47).
ILLOS i.e. voltus illorum; cf. 12.117 and 247 below.
236 CODICE i.e. tabulis, wax tablets (cerae) hinged together, cf. on 4.19. SAEVO would technically be inofficioso. |[477]
HEREDES SUOS Forbids his kith and kin from inheriting, with an allusion
to the legal phrase sui heredes (RE s.v., Kaser1 95; Petron. 116); filius meus exheres
esto Ulpian Dig. 28.2.23 (Kaser1 703). VETARE is often applied to decisions in a
will or legal document.
BONA PHIALEN Cf. 1.3741, 557. As a persona turpis she would not in fact
be entitled to inherit (RE turpitudo 1438.25; cf. Suet. Dom. 8.3). Her name (cf. Ovid
Met. 3.172) suggests that she liked the bottle.
ARTIFICIS Cf. 4.18, 14.116; she fellates him, cf. 208.

420A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

STETERAT Cf. on 11.172; the mouth prostituted itself, i.e. practised fellatio. Of
course a mouth cannot literally stand.
CARCERE Her cella would be foul (olida, cf. 11.172, 6.132) and dark.
FORNICIS 3.156, 11.173; Underneath the Arches. Cf. DS s.v. 1264b, RE s.v. 11,
Poehlmann 967, Isidore 10.110.
240 UT though, 8.272; DUCENDA 1.146. The ancients regarded it as particularly tragic and a reversal of the order of nature that a father should bury his
children, cf. 259 and on 16.54, Sen. Cons. Marc. 1.2, 10.3, 17.7, Mart. 1.114.35 with
Citroni, Tac. Ann. 16.11.2 and Agr. 44.4 with OgilvieRichmond; Catalepton 11.78
with Westendorp-Boerma; Pease on Cic. De Nat. Deor. 2.72; Kassel (see Thirteen,
introduction) 96 on Plut. (?) Cons. Apoll. 34; F. Vollmer Laudationum Funebrium
Historia (Jahrb. Kl. Phil. suppl. 18, 1891) 507, Lattimore 187 sqq. (esp. 191), Bmer
on Ov. Met. 8.529. So ultimus suorum moriatur is a curse (Marquardt 1 n. 3). This
particular passage draws on Stat. Silv. 2.6.2 sqq.
241 ROGUS CONIUGIS Cf. on 6.5678, Quintil. 6 pr. 46, Stat. Silv. 5.1.181.
ASPICIENDUS one must live to see, cf. 265; in Greek .
243 POENA Cf. 187; DATA cf. 146.
245 NIGRA VESTE Cf. 3.213, RE Trauerkleidung 222930 and luctus 1698,
Blmner1 497, Marquardt 356.
SENESCANT Both literally and in the metaphorical sense pine; Cic. Pro Clu.
13 maerore et lacrimis consenescebat.
246 REX PYLIUS Nestor cf. 12.128.
SI QUICQUAM CREDIS HOMERO Cf. 68, 173, 4.53, Priapea 80.5 siquid credis
Homero, Sen. NQ 6.26.1 si Homero fides est, Ovid Ex Ponto 1.6.19, Thucyd. 1.9.4,
1.10.3.
247 CORNICE i.e. cornicis vita, on the same principle as comparatio compendiaria (cf. on 234). Cf. Hesiod quoted on 14.251; RE Krhe 1562; Thes. cornix 961.71;
Otto cornix (1) and Nachtrge 99, 149, 234; Bmer on Ov. Met. 7.274.
SECUNDAE A Cf. on 126 and Housman on Manil. 4.445.
248 QUI is quite often followed by an indicative where a causal subjunctive
would be more explicit (cf. on 15.133). |[478]
249 Units and tens were counted on the fingers of the left hand, hundreds
and thousands on the right, and there was an elaborate system of finger-positions; see Sittl 252, Marrou 157 and 4001, RAC Finger 916, Thes. digitus 1125.12,
RE Arithmetica 1113, Bonner 187, Turner CJ 47, 1951, 65, H. Hommel Symbola 1
(1976) 377, Calderone Riv. Fil. 104, 1976, 41. For the application here cf. Lollius
Bassus (who lived under Tiberius) AP 11.72 (GowPage GP 1639)
, / ,
/ (i.e. she has passed beyond 10,000, at
which point one returns to the left hand). Nestor had outlived two and was
reigning over the third (Il. 1.250; Od. 3.245 exaggerates this to make him reign over

SATIRE TEN421

three ). It is not apparent whether Juvenal, like most authors who elaborate
on Nestor, reckons three to the century, or, like Ovid Met. 12.187, one (in
which case saeculum rather renders ; cf. Censorin. 17.2); cf. Enk on Prop.
2.13.46, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 2.9.13.
COMPUTAT ANNOS 6.199.
250 Cf. 14.253; Ovid Met. 14.146 ter centum messes, ter centum musta videre (of
the Sibyl); i.e. he saw so many autumns (cf. on 339). But perhaps Juvenal attributes
the Roman festival of the Meditrinalia (11 October) to Pylos (cf. 160, 1778; this
would be like the so-called interpretatio Romana in religion); at this one would
drink the old and new wine saying novum vetus (or vetus novum) vinum bibo
(Varro LL 6.21, Festus 123).
251 Juvenal seems to be thinking of dramatic representations (for ATTENDAS
cf. 6.65), e.g. the Memnon of Aeschylus.
STAMINE 3.27, 14.249, 12.65.
ACRIS Od. 3.111. Juvenal has in mind Prop. 2.13.4750.
BARBAM Philostr. Imag. 2.7.5 .
254 SOCIO See on 11.85.
CUR DURET Cf. Cons. Liv. 104, Ovid Met. 8.530 etc.
255 Paradoxical.
256 PELEUS sc. queritur from 251.
257 ALIUS Laertes, cf. 1.10, Hom. Od. 15.3535.
FAS natural; cf. Prop. 2.13.52 (after the Antilochus passage) fas est praeteritos
semper amare viros, Stat. Th. 12.79. Normally it is nefas to feel luctus (244, 256 etc.)
for the living (hence Tac. Agr. 46.1 virtutum tuarum quas neque lugeri neque plangi fas est because their memory is still alive; the epigram of Naevius in Gell. 1.24.2;
Pliny Ep. 2.1.10), but Ulysses was supposed to be dead (hence Penelopes grief is
Od. 14.130).
NATANTEM Storm-tossed, shipwrecked; thinking of his swim to the |[479]
coast of Phaeacia (cf. Prop. 3.12.32) rather than that to the island of Calypso. This
word apparently could not carry the meaning sailing at sea, though nantem
could.
258 For Priam and (283) Pompey Juvenal draws on Cic. Tusc. 1.856; Priam and
Nestor together 6.3246.
ASSARACUS was the son ofTros and brother of Priams grandfather Ilus.
FUNUS corpse, cf. on 4.109; funera portant Stat. Th. 3.361. For a son to bury
one is the coping-stone of happiness, as in the famous case of Metellus (Cic. l.c.,
cf. Blmner1 4956). CERVICE Cf. 1.64, 9.143.
UT perhaps means ita ut, perhaps when; or more exactly UT PRIMOS may
indicate as soon as. First Cassandra () (Il. 24.723, 747, 761), then the
funeral procession starts off. In that case the subjunctive is due to the conditional
form of the whole sentence.

422A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

SCISSA PALLA Cf. 13.132, and Verg. Aen. 8.702 (Discordia).

264 AUDACES CARINAS Because of the object of the voyage.
AEDIFICARE Thes. s.v. 925.57.
265 CONTULIT sc. Priamo, cf. 302, 1.106.
VIDIT Cf. on 241 and Verg. Aen. 2.5 (after Ennius Andromache quoted by Cicero l.c.); OgilvieRichmond on Tac. Agr. 45.1 (non videre misfortunes is a topic
of consolations; Ovid Met. 13.521 nec aspicit).
266 Aen. 3.1 res Asiae evertere ceciditque superbum Ilium.
267 Aen. 2.509. TIARA is part of the dress of Phrygians in general (6.516 q.v.)
and Priam in particular (Aen. 7.247, where it is masculine; cf. A. Baumeister Denk
mler (1885) fig. 792). TREMULUS Cf. 198; there is a trembling alliteration of t.
268 Aen. 2.550. The simile is from Od. 4.535, 11.411, the wording with the closing monosyllabic fall from Aen. 5.481. The humour (VETULUS) is grim, Priam is
indirectly an old fellow.
269 COLLUM PRAEBET Cf. 345.
AB The inanimate plough here is represented as capable of feelings which of
course really belong to the ploughman. In earlier times it would have been exceptional for an ox from the plough to be sacrificed (though Lucian De Sacrif. 12
has a reference like Juvenals); cf. Verg. Georg. 3.160 AUT aris servare sacros AUT
scindere terram, Pythagoras in Ovid Met. 15.120 sqq., RE Opfer 596.55, P. Stengel
Griech. Kultusaltertmer3 (1920) 123. Victims should be iniuges.
2712 Hardly a convincing argument for not desiring long life; Juvenal has
added, but not integrated, an extra twist.
UTCUMQUE At all events; VIXERAT for the tense see on 9.96. |[480]
TORVA is part of the predicate, with latravit (not attributively with uxor). Cf.
Ovid Met. 13.542, 5689.
2735 Both Mithridates and Croesus were conquered and deposed. For the
praeteritio with TRANSEO cf. 6.602 and p. 34.
2745 Herod. 1.29 sqq.; chronology is usually thought to rule out such a meeting, but Markianos Historia 23, 1974, 9 thinks it possible. The lesson respice finem
is applied to Croesus by Sen. Tranq. An. 11.12 (see introduction); Solons
is proverbial (1.315 Schn.Leutsch).
Croesus, Pompey and Marius are coupled by Ovid Ex Ponto 4.3.37 sqq. as patterns of fortunes mutability.
SPATIA laps, a common circus metaphor (e.g. Cic. Cato 14, Sen. Dial. 9.9.3).
27682 Marius; CARCER at Minturnae (cf. Carney G & R2 8, 1961, 10611).
MENDICATUS cibus Ovid Trist. 5.7 (9).14.
HINC From long life; for QUID see on 6.284, and for ILLO on 179 above.
279 The climax formed by Roma is remarkable; it is significant of the estimate
formed by the Romans of their imperial city Duff. A comma after Roma would
be helpful.

SATIRE TEN423

2801 These lines have a slow stately movement, emphasised by the hiatus in
281.
CIRCUMDUCTO The triumphal procession, including the principal captives
and the booty (POMPA refers in particular to this, though it covers the procession
generally), made a long circuit through the city; RE triumphus 501.48.
OPIMAM Cf. Cic. 2 Verr. 1.132 praeda opimus; glorious, a word often associated with triumphs.
282 VELLET was on the point of, a use which later leads to a periphrastic future, like English I will. Cf. HS 314, A. Ollfors Textkritische Beitrge zu Lucan
(1967) 58; Hor. Serm. 2.3.37, Ovid Her. 13.87, Am. 1.12.3.
CURRU In which he rode in his triumph over the Teutoni and Cimbri.
283 Cf. on 258. For Pompeys sickness in 50 B.C. cf. RE Pompeius 2172, J. van
Ooteghem Pompe le Grand (1954) 494; Sen. Dial. 6.20.4.
OPTANDAS For which he should have prayed (cf. on 7) so that they would
bring death; but in fact all the prayers were for his recovery.
284 i.e. multarum urbium publica vota; Juvenal chooses this mode of expression to suggest multae urbes vicerunt (unam) Campaniam. The vota are not mentioned by Cic. Tusc. (on 258) or Seneca l.c., but are at Ad Att. 8.16.1, Vell. Pat.
2.48.2. Cf. CIL 13.128 = CEL 2099.10 optabant vitam publica vota tuam. |[480]
FORTUNA IPSIUS See Cic. De Imp. Pomp. 478, Lucan 8.71018, Taeger 2.23
and 46; felicitas is an essential attribute of a general.
FORTUNA URBIS (better printed Urbis) For the concept cf. RE (29.65) and
ML (1515) Fortuna, Thes. s.v. 1188.48 and 58, Wissowa 261, Latte 1789. The implication here is that the fortunes of Rome were bound up with those of Pompey
Duff (cf. Lucan 8.686).
286 CAPUT Cut off when he was assassinated in Egypt.
2868 Catiline and his accomplices would most naturally be contrasted with
Cicero, whose body also suffered mutilation (120); but the exemplum of Cicero has
already been used. Catiline to Juvenal (cf. 14.41) is the chief of sinners, as to Vergil
(Aen. 8.668); both authors regard the attempted overthrow of the state with true
conservative Roman horror. Lentulus and Cethegus (2.27, 8.231) were strangled in
the Tullianum, Catiline died in battle (IACUIT on the battlefield), but Dio Cass.
3740.2 says that his head was in fact cut off.
INTEGER CADAVERE TOTO are contrasted with caput abstulit; cf. Lucan
8.699, 10.380, Plut. Pompey 80. Cornelius Severus ap. Sen. Suas. 6.26 remarks in
contrast with Cicero that even Hannibal membra tamen Stygias tulit inviolata sub
umbras (it was thought that disfigurement would remain in the after-life, Norden
on Aen. 6.446; cf. Ovid Met. 10.49, Trist. 3.4.20). Nero (Suet. 49) and Otho (Tac.
Hist. 2.49.3) were anxious about this.
289 FORMAM Cf. Hor. Epist. 1.4.68 (prayed for by the nutricula); for its penalties cf. Sen. Phaedr. 8203.

424A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

VENERIS The giver of venus and venustas.

MURMURE Cf. 6.539, Pers. 2.6 murmurque humilesque susurros; in Greek
. Petron. 85 timidissimo murmure votum feci. Presumably the louder it is,
the more insistent it is; or perhaps she is rather ashamed to request forma for a boy
(this is the point in Persius l.c.).
ANXIA MATER Cf. Sen. Ep. 60.1.
291 Sen. De Ben. 4.5.1 usque in delicias amamur (i.e. god provides luxuries as
well as necessities). This may here apply (1) to what the mother promises; she will
in return give Venus far-fetched and precious gifts, (2) to what she requests, either
not just beauty in general but specific points of beauty, e.g. a fair complexion, or
fanciful prayers as at Pers. 2.378. Deliciae (4.4, 6.47 and 260, 13.140) always implies discontent with the ordinary; cf. Fordyce on Cat. 50.3.
INQUIT Presumably the subject is aliquis (on 8.44); an objection is often introduced in dialogue this way (E. Norden Die Antike Kunstprosa2 (1909) 1.129 and
277; R. Hirzel Der Dialog 1 (1895) 371). If the subject is mater, TAMEN will represent her as having heard the poets criticism, cf. 14.153. |[482]
PULCHRA DIANA Hom. Od. 6.106, Verg. Aen. 1.502.
293 LUCRETIA and VERGINIA Sen. Contr. 1.5.3, [Quintil.] Decl. Mai. 3.11,
[Sen.] Oct. 297304. For Verginia see Livy 3.44 sqq.
294 CUPERES OSQUE TUUM This is the most convincing emendation;
the path of corruption will have been via otque suum. With atque suum we should
have to understand tergum, an intolerable zeugma.
296 TREPIDOS HABENT keep on tenterhooks; for habere so used cf. 13.194,
Val. Fl. 8.13, Thes. s.v. 2429.58, HS 319, KS 1.296 and 763, Thielmann ALL 2, 1885,
377 sqq. But in this case habere may simply mean have.
2978 Cf. Ovid Am. 3.4.412, Her. 16.288, Sen. De Ben. 3.16.3, Cic. Pro Cael. 6,
Mart. 8.53; Petron. 94 raram fecit mixturam cum sapientia forma.
ADEO with RARA, cf. 13.59 and on 6.49.
It was negligent of Juvenal to put LICET (although) introducing the protasis
when LICET 304 is the main verb of the apodosis. Note also NATURA 301 and
303 (cf. on 16.910).
299300 Vell. Pat. 2.11.1 horridus vitaque sanctus; when women were horridae
(6.10) Pudicitia stayed on earth.
SABINOS Cf. 6.164 and often of the Sabine women (Otto Sabina and Nachtrge
208; Ovid Am. 2.4.15 imitata Sabinas, whence here); Livy 1.18.4 disciplina tetrica
ac tristi veterum Sabinorum.
3001 VULTUMQUE FERVENTEM Cf. 11.54 and 154, 13.242, Suet. Dom.
18.1, Pliny Ep. 1.14.8.
303 Ovid Met. 9.759 natura, potentior omnibus istis (cf. 7512 custodia cura).
CUSTODE Cf. 7.218, Pliny Ep. 3.3.4; OMNI cf. 232 and on 8.209.
304 VIRO is probably right; cf. puero 302, filius parentes 2956 with parentes

SATIRE TEN425

305. Petron. 81 adulescens quem tamquam puellam conduxit etiam qui virum
putavit. quid ille alter qui ne vir esset a matre persuasus est, qui opus muliebre
in ergastulo fecit? Cf. Mart. 9.56.12, 11.78.12; Sen. Dial. 5.8.2, Ep. 122.7; Sen. Contr.
10.4 (33).17.
CORRUPTORIS Cf. on 1.77.
IMPROBITAS carries an implication of impudence (4.106) as well as wickedness.
TEMPTARE PARENTES Who sometimes succumbed (Musonius Rufus p.
83.4 Hense). But parents who have brought up the boy strictly (2989) are not
likely to surrender to bribes.
3078 The typical tyrant of the declaimers (Fortunat. 1.15) with his typical arx
(on 4.145), the seat of his profligacy ([Quintil.] Decl. 282); the stock tyrant is libidinosus (Nepos 21.2.2; cf. Sen. fr. 34 ap. Aug. De Civ. Dei 6.10.2, [Lucian] Amores 21).
For EPHEBUM cf. |[483] Lucian Catapl. 267, Varro Sat. Men. 205 rex ephebum
mulieravit. Nero castrated Sporus (Suet. 28, Dio Cass. 62.28.3). But free-born Roman boys (praetextati) hardly had to fear castration (Neros homosexual partners
were not free-born); Juvenals declamation exaggerates, as at 3045.
CASTRAVIT For the perfect see on 2.83.
PRAETEXTATUM See on 1.78, 2.170; RAPUIT cf. 332, 7.168; LORIPEDEM
2.23; GIBBO cf. 294.
UTERO belly, naturally not womb; Lewis and Short II C.
NEC (at end of 308) vel seems preferable (see the apparatus).
310 IUVENIS i.e. filii; cf. 3.158, 4.95, 8.262 and on 14.23. Juvenal only has filius
in the nominative singular, with the diminutive filiolum in 6.390 (cf. on 10.334).
MAIORA (than those of 3049), namely those of 31617.
ADULTER PUBLICUS Cf. Hor. Odes 2.8.78 iuvenum publica cura (see
NisbetHubbard), Sen. De Ben. 3.28.4, Apul. Met. 7.22, cinaedus publicus passim
in Firm. Mat.
MARITI / IRAE DEBEBIT At BICS 13, 1966, 41, where I proposed this reading,
I have argued that the reading of P provides the only basis for emendation, and
that a future tense rather than a present would be natural. I suggest that debebit
became debit through haplography, and that the next scribe inevitably wrote debet, though he conscientiously noted the reading of his exemplar with al. i. above
the line. His successor saw that the line was now a syllable short, read this note
as ati, and hence produced irati. I referred to a very similar corruption at Catull.
66.86.
31314 i.e. nec astrum eius felicius erit astro (luck) Martis. Mars, who appears
in this story with the imperfections of humanity, has a natal star like any man.
LAQUEOS Set by Hephaestus for Ares and Aphrodite; cf. 2.31, Hom. Od.
8.266369, Ovid AA 2.57880, Met. 4.177.
DOLOR Resentment; common in such contexts of marital infidelity, e.g. Val.

426A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Max. 6.1.13 (q.v. generally). In Juvenals day the lex Iulia de adulteriis (2.37; cf.
Corbett 136, Kaser1 323) applied: both guilty partners might be killed at once by the
wifes father if called in by the husband; the husband might kill the male adulterer
if he were a freedman, a slave, or belonged to a disreputable profession or had
been condemned in a public trial. For necare in this connection cf. Adams Glotta
51, 1973, 283; for the penalties of adulterers 6.44, Hor. Serm. 1.2.3746, Quintil.
3.6.27, 5.10.88, Varro ap. Gell. 17.18 (loris bene caesum).
MUGILIS (the usual nominative is mugil; Thes. s.v. 1557.70) The grey mullet;
cf. Catull. 15.19 and indirectly Hor. Serm. 1.2.133. |[484] This was a fish with a large
head tapering to a small tail, in shape like the radish () similarly used in
Greece (cf. Lucian De Morte Peregrini 9). It was inserted in the adulterers anus as
a substitute for humiliating him by homosexual rape (Fehling 223), and also to
inflict pain with its spines (Ellis on Cat. l c.). Cf. Dover 1056.
318 SED FIET ADULTER resumes (cf. 185) fiet adulter 311; so 314 (exigit)317
should be placed in parenthesis.
TUUS ENDYMION Cf. 6.566 etc., Apul. Met. 1.12.
CUM DEDERIT NUMMOS Cf. 6.35565, Mart. 11.62.
ILLIUS Serviliae; NEGAVERIT see index verbs for the potential perfect subjunctive.
OPPIA 220; CATULLA 2.49. This passage should probably be punctuated thus
inguinibus? sive est Catulla, deterior ; the punctuation after inguinibus is
due to Weidner. All women when their passion is aroused will do anything to
satisfy it; in the case of degenerate nymphomaniacs their whole character actually
consists of their passion. HAEC = deterior femina.
ILLIC in inguinibus udis; Mart. 11.16.8 uda puella.
TOTOS With the collective notion whole character, cf. on 8.255.
320 EXUET ORNATUM The woman will give him all her jewelry, cf. Mart.
4.28.
325 PROPOSITUM , institutum vivendi (5.1, 9.21).
Phaedra and Stheneboea (both Euripidean heroines) are coupled Aristoph.
Frogs 1043 sqq., cf. Lucian De Calumn. 26.
As Markland saw, a line is missing after 325, something like hospita cum
stuprum suaderet sive noverca (Helm Bursians Jahresber. 282, 1943, 29; though better lines could be devised). Then 326 should read ERUBUIT NEMPE HAEC (i.e.
Phaedra) CEU FASTIDITA REPULSA. NEMPE answers the rhetorical question
as at 110, 160, 185 etc., and for REPULS cf. Ovid Met. 14.42 Venerisque offensa
repulsa, 13.967, 15.503. PUDOR 329 resumes ERUBUIT, and thus establishes that
the line is genuine.
CEU FASTIDITA like a scorned woman; in fact rejection of the proffered love
was due not to fastidium but to grave propositum.
SE CONCUSSERE Whipped themselves up to fury, like lionesses; cf. Florus

SATIRE TEN427

1.36 pr., where it means that Numidia whipped itself up to fight.

PUDOR STIMULOS ADMOVET Livy 7.15.3.
330 SUADENDUM Adopting the technique of a suasoria; sc. (ei) CUI, cf. on
6.413.
331 Tac. Ann. 11.12.1 C. Silium, iuventutis Romanae pulcherrimum; Dio Cass.
60.31.7 . Juvenal is much more sympathetic to Silius than
Tacitus is. |[485]
GENTIS PATRICIAE In fact the Silii were plebeians; Juvenal uses patricius
merely as equivalent to nobilis, cf. on 1.24, 4.102.
RAPITUR EXSTINGUENDUS is carried away to destruction; passion passes
from the eyes of Messalina to his, cf. Ovid Am. 3.11.48 tuos oculos, qui rapuere
meos, Phaedr. 4.5.4 oculis venantem viros, Shackleton Bailey 268 on Prop. 1.1.1, and
on 4.114 above. But RAPITUR (cf. 308) also puts him in the position of a woman
being abducted by a man, cf. 7.168.
333 DUDUM Cf. on 3.128.
334 sqq. Cf. 2.11724.
FLAMMEOLO The ironical diminutive is only found here and in imitation by
Prudentius. Cf. 2.124 and 6.225 flmm; but -um and -o pose metrical problems,
cf. on 310 and 3.95.
GENIALIS sc. lectus (Thes. 6.2.1808.14); cf. 6.22, Cic. Pro Clu. 14 etc., Marquardt
56, Blmner1 30 and 361.
TYRIUS Because she is an empress; cf. Catull. 64.49 for Thetis.
PALAM IN HORTIS (on 1.75) Not in atrio.
335 RITU ANTIQUO refers to the handing over of the dowry, not to its
amount; in this case 1,000,000 sesterces, cf. 6.137. Suet. Claud. 26.2 C. Silio etiam
nupsisse dote inter auspices consignata; Tac. 11.27 adhibitis qui obsignarent audisse auspicum verba (i.e. feliciter, see on 2.119). The auspices now took merely a
formal part in the ceremonies (Cic. De Div. 1.28, whence Val. Max. 2.1.1); see Latte
264, Wissowa 386, Blmner1 3545.
SIGNATORIBUS Witnesses to the tabulae nuptiales, cf. 2.119, 9.75 and on
3.812.
337 TU Silius; Tac. 11.12.2 nonnulla fallendi spe.
338 Messalina wants to marry in proper form, Tac. 11.26.
QUID PLACEAT DIC Sen. De Ben. 2.21.2. QUID would more exactly be utrum (cf. 344 and on 8.196) since a dilemma follows.
VELIS ERIT shows the same form of condition as ADMITTAS, DABITUR;
cf. KS 2.395, HS 663.
PEREUNDUM ERIT Tac. 11.12.2 certo si abnueret exitio.
ANTE LUCERNAS sc. incensas, cf. on 15.99. Luminibus accensis (Censorin.
24.6, Thes. accendo 274.47), prima fax (Thes. fax 402.36), or
belong to a group of expressions for denoting time, like (Pliny

428A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

NH 10.15 donec impleantur hominum conventu fora) and , by events of

the human day, which originated when more accurate methods of fixing time
were lacking. Cf. on 250 and Blmner1 374; ante lucernam SHA 27.10.2.
341 Tac. 11.30 matrimonium Silii vidit populus et senatus et miles.
342 Tac. 11.25 is illi finis inscitiae erga domum suam fuit. Likewise Sulla was the
last to learn about Metella, Sen. fr. 63. |[486]
344 s order is due to 2.56.
345 PRAEBERE CERVICEM (GLADIO) submit to execution is common
from Livy onwards (Thes. cervix 948.45); cf. 26970, 4.96 and Mommsen2 923 on
this military style of execution under the principate.
347 IPSIS Without our prayers.
351 Schurzfleisch reasonably felt MAGNA to be weak, especially after CAECA,
and thought that , who notes caeco sive vano desiderio, read vanave. Housman
proposed either vanaque (comparing for the corruption Cons. Liv. 37 and Lucan
11.268 as quoted by Servius) or pravaque, which could have been corrupted to
parvaque and emended to magnaque (cf. 9.106; parva and magna are variants at
Ovid Trist. 2.186).
3523 Note the chiastic order.
QUI (of what sort) PUERI sc. futuri sint. Cf. Sen. Ep. 59.2, De Ben. 3.11.1, Xen.
Mem. 1.1.8, [Plato] Alc. II 142b3, Dio Cass. 69.20.2 (Hadrian; cf. on 356). PUERI
(instead of the usual lbr, nati) and UXOR seem to be a rare combination (Livy
5.40.10).
354 ET POSCAS as well as leaving it to the gods ipsis. The logic of this is not
quite perfect.
3545 These lines include three diminutives and are clearly ironical in content.
Juvenal suggests a lack of respect for the usual method of prayer with offerings
and hints that prayer is an unnecessary concession to human weakness because
we ourselves can provide its object (363). The irony however is hardly opportune
here as it casts doubt on the sincerity of the following advice.
DIVINA Either a feast for gods (Mayor) or presaging, in allusion to divination of the future by the viscera which are sarcastically called sausages; for
the latter sense cf. divinat 4.124 Duff (see Thes. s.v. 1623.76). The latter seems less
relevant here.
PORCI 13.117; CANDIDULI the preferred colour (66, 12.3).
TOMACULA RE s.v., Blmner1 175; cf. omenta 13.118 and for the irony Pers.
2.2930.
356 Cf. Plato Gorg. 479b; Dio Cass. 69.20.3 (see on 353) ,
Lucian Pro Laps. inter Salut. 5 ; Isocr.
Panath. 7; Libanius Or. 6.15. It was usual to pray for bona mens and bona valetudo
(Petron. 61.1, 88.8, Sen. Ep. 10.4; cf. Hor. Odes 1.31.1719). Animus sanus is defined
by Sen. Ep. 72.7. This is a solemn spondaic line.

SATIRE TEN429

357 POSCE resumes poscas 354; now Juvenal explains what he means by mens
sana, and some of his instances also require a corpus sanum (which to Stoics was
), though this is not quite in tune with what follows. For the thought
cf. 8.834. The following |[487] reads almost like a summary of Ciceros Tusculans,
of which Book I deals with the fear of death, II with the bearing of pain (see on
dolores 359), IV with the emotions (those of 360 are both classified under libido),
and V with the self-sufficiency of virtus.
358 SPATIUM VITAE Cf. 188 and the following; Sen. Ep. 49.10. EXTREMUM
least important; this is the predicate.
The rhythm of the line is harsh, more so than 14.108. There are very similar
lines at Lucr. 3.258 nunc ea quo pacto inter sese mixta quibusque, Pers. 3.100 and
often in Silius (inter in the third foot 5.497, in the second 1.450, 2.321, 12.536, in the
fourth 5.429, 9.206, 10.308, 15.13); all involve inter (in-ter with a quasi-caesura?)
preceded by elision (add Sil. 8.75 attollit mitique manu intra limina ducit).
DOLORES (see the apparatus) is probably correct as it avoids the tautology
with 361; cf. Sen. Ep. 98.14 (in integrum) restituamur ut possimus dolores perferre et fortunae (cf. Juv. 3656) dicere cum viro tibi negotium est: quaere quem
vincas. There remains a remarkable series of three rhyming lines (cf. 7.1956);
perhaps this is appropriate to an ethical catechism, cf. Lucil. 1326 sqq.
360 It has attained to Stoic ; cf. 45.
361 Cf. Otto Hercules (2) and Nachtrge 105, 238, Thes. aerumna 1066.57. For
the Stoic links of Hercules see on 2.20 and cf. Cic. De Fin. 2.118 (would you prefer
to spend your whole life in pleasure sine dolore or help others and) vel Herculis
perpeti aerumnas, which is addressed to an Epicurean.
362 SARDANAPALLI The Assyrian king Assurbanipal, proverbial for luxury
and effeminacy (RAC Effeminatus 637, Otto Nachtrge 90, Paroemiogr. ed. Schn.
Leutsch 2.207 and 600). For see Graux Rev. Phil. 2,
1878, 221. He is several times contrasted with Hercules (RE Sard. 2447.3).
PLUMA 6.88 (collective singular as here), 1.159 etc.
363 MONSTRO Cf. 6.261, 14.256; often used of doctors prescriptions and of
teaching of any kind.
QUOD DARE Sen. Ep. 41.1 bonam mentem (cf. 356) quam stultum est
optare cum possis a te impetrare, Dial. 7.4.2; Cic. De Nat. Deor. 3.868 virtutem
nemo unquam acceptam deo rettulit fortunam a deo petendam, a se ipso sumendam esse sapientiam (cf. Pease p. 1025). The opposite Epictet. 2.16.47
. Why should one ask the gods for what one can provide oneself?
Because ducunt volentem fata; cf. Marc. Aurel. 9.40.
SEMITA VITAE Cf. 7.172, Hor. Epist. 1.18.103 (and with this context cf. ibid.
11112 sed satis est orare Iovem, quae ponit et aufert, / det vitam, det opes; aequum
mi animum ipse parabo). |[488]
3656 are largely repeated at 14.31516, q.v. For the role of Fortuna here cf.

430A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

523, Sen. quoted on 359, and introduction.

[Sen.] Oct. 911 nullum pietas nunc numen habet; cf. 13.37. 7.1948 emphatically
asserts the power of Fortuna, but Fortuna there is a very complex notion.
HABES SI SIT If men were to judge rightly, <they would find that> you have;
cf. 13.20 victrix fortunae sapientia.
366 Cf. 13.86, Pliny NH 2.22, Publil. Syr. 153 ex hominum questu facta Fortuna
est dea; Philemon fab. inc. 48 M = fr. 137 K. There were of course many cults of
Fortuna; in this context Juvenal must be urging that prayers should no longer be
directed to her, since external events cannot affect happiness derived from within.

[489]

Satire Eleven

This poem combines an attack on luxury and extravagance with praise of simplicity in the form of a disquisition about an invitation to dinner. Juvenal begins
(155) by stating that, while the rich can afford to be gourmets, for anyone of
lesser means this leads to bankruptcy and degradation; should be
the motto. This lesson he proceeds to exemplify himself in talking about his invitation to Persicus, in that he relates the simplicity shown by himself with his
modest means to that associated in Roman tradition with early Republican times,
and contrasts it with the luxury of the rich of the present day. Thus we have this
pattern (and the text should be paragraphed accordingly):
(1) My food will not be extravagant (5676)
(2) but only marginally less austere than that of the old Romans (7789; 603
foreshadow this theme);
(3) in those days the furniture too was not lavish (90119)
(4) but the rich nowadays require lavish furniture (this resumes 155), whereas
mine is simple (12035).
These four sections are very clearly bound together by logical progression in chiastic order, so that it is natural for 129 to resume 60.
(5) My servants and wine likewise will not be distinguished (13661);
(6) I will not provide for entertainment the obscene of the rich, but
cultured (16282).
The conclusion (183208) is an exhortation to Persicus to put off worries and enjoy himself quietly; even simple pleasures should not be taken to excess.
Some problems in this poem require deeper interpretation. The first is this:
how do Juvenals precepts relate to the rich? It is quite clear that Juvenal disapproves of luxury and extravagance in the rich (95, 1209, 1718 and much that is
implicit; cf. 8.181, 4.11); yet and the whole tenor of 155 would seem
to allow it (cf. 12, 217). In answer one may |[490] observe first that Juvenal only
says that it does not bring material disaster to a rich man, not that it is morally legitimate. In the second place he does not himself in any way palliate or commend
431

432A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

it, but only says that the man in the street does so (habetur 1; famam 23; vocantur
178; nomen 22, i.e. what it is commonly called, not what it is). He is thereby hinting
a criticism of the common people of Rome for loving a Lord (cf. p. 23), though
to make the criticism more palatable he associates himself with them by the first
person damus 176 (cf. nobiscum 1.101); the values of the ordinary man are also implicitly criticised in 193201. One cannot but feel that Juvenal has given up the rich
men of his day as beyond redemption. He makes no attempt to direct his teaching
at them or to convert them to his way of thought, but focusses on persuading
men of his own station not to let themselves be carried away by luxury which they
cannot afford and should not want; and this is the message of a passage in Horace,
Epist. 1.18.2136, compared by Adamietz 127.
The second problem is this; what is the precise function of the form based on
an invitation, and how does Persicus himself fit in? First it must be clear that this
poem is not itself the invitation, which Persicus has already accepted (60). No
precisely-defined situation seems to be envisaged; it is as if the poet were talking to
Persicus before the latter left home on his way to Juvenals house (2046). In this
it is like Hor. Odes 1.20, but both may be related to a well-developed literary form,
the invitation to a modest meal; noteworthy examples are Philodemus AP 11 .44 =
GowPage GP 3302 to Piso, Hor. Epist. 1.5 to Torquatus, Martial 5.78 to Toranius,
10.48 to a number of friends, 11.52 to Julius Cerealis (in which Martial promises
that he will not recite his own poetry; cf. Lucillius AP 11.10). These invitations
may be attached to a special occasion (in Philodemus and Horace the birthdays of
Epicurus and Augustus). In Juvenal this is the Megalesia, though the host refuses
to spend the holiday like the vulgar mob; the date and the contrast with the rich
that runs through the poem make it likely that Juvenal wishes us to contrast his
modest meal on the last day of the festival (on 193) with the lavish mutitationes
held by wealthy aristocrats on the first (Graillot 901, Latte 261, Wissowa 318).
The invitation may be for the same day (Horace, Mart. 10.48 |[491] and 11.52). The
guest may be a man of aristocratic and rich family (this is true of at least Stella
among Martials guests), who is urged to forget about money-making (Hor. Ep.
1.5.8, cf. Odes 4.12.25), who has to leave aside business for relaxation (Torquatus;
cf. Odes 3.29.16 and 25) and who is used to better food, wine and furniture (Piso
and Maecenas). The host provides simple furniture (Archiaci lecti and modicae
patellae for Torquatus, modici canthari for Maecenas, nigra patella for Toranius)
and a simple meal; holus omne for Torquatus, Sabine wine for Maecenas, and in
the case of Toranius vinum tu facies bonum bibendo; no fish for Cerealis (cf. Juv.
64), but (Mart. 10.48) vegetables gathered by the vilica, a goat, ofellae not requiring carving by a structor, chicken, wine from Martials own farm at Nomentum
(not far from Tibur, Juv. 65), mitia poma or (Mart. 5.78) vegetables, puls, lardum,
then, as mensae secundae, marcentes uvae / et nomen pira quae ferunt Syrorum. For entertainment (Mart. 5.78) nec de Gadibus improbis puellae / vibrabunt

SATIRE eleven433

sine fine prurientes / lascivos docili tremore lumbos. The bath comes first (10.48.3,
11.52.3). Clearly Juvenal had these two poems (5.78 and 10.48) of Martial prominently in mind; all the items mentioned have their correspondences in him. The
traditional emphasis on simplicity admirably suits his purpose; of course neither
poem of Martial makes any point of morality, whereas Horace does have philosophical reflections. One must also note Plinys humorous remonstrance (Ep. 1.15)
with a friend who has failed to turn up to a modest vegetarian meal with cultured
and has preferred a lavish repast with dancing-girls from Cadiz.
The third question is, what about Persicus? He clearly cannot have been an
actual friend of Juvenal; 1869 could never be addressed to such. That leaves two
alternatives; he could be an invented figure, or he could be an actual person whom
Juvenal in fact disliked (in which case the generally friendly and polite way in
which he is addressed will be ironical). But in the latter case it is unlikely that
Juvenal would give himself away by the brutality of 1869, and I prefer to think
that he is merely a peg created by Juvenal on which to hang his moral lesson. For
in Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen Juvenal has chosen a form in which his lesson is attached to an occasion, and that necessarily postulates an individual involved (cf.
pp. 1314). Juvenal conceives |[492] him as not young (203; nostra there is unlikely
to mean mea in a context in which Juvenal is inviting Persicus to join him), but,
though he bestows an indirect compliment on him in 129, he hints that Persicus
would enjoy the luxury against which he is warning. This is suggested by his very
name (cf. 14.328 and on 8.13; but he can hardly be identical with the man of 3.221),
which is not common (see Friedlaender on 58); he may look for dancing-girls
(162) and is likely to call for bigger cups (148). He fits the lesson which Juvenal
wishes to impart, but not obtrusively so. See also on 1856.
One feature which contributes to the attractiveness of this poem is that in it
Juvenal, contrary to his usual habit, does not insist on the application of a rigid set
of standards. He presents himself as austere relative to his own society (with some
relaxation as this is a special occasion 204 sqq.), but not to early Rome (77), which
itself showed a historical development from the harsh days of Curius; 912 (and
perhaps 100 sqq.; Juvenals attitude in these lines is not free from ambiguity, but
note magnorum artificum) seem to hint that the early Romans at times went to
excess in their austerity. Such recognition that standards are relative and the clock
of history cannot be simply turned back is quite exceptional in Juvenal.
12 Cf. 212, 1718; 4.13, 8.1812.
ATTICUS Probably Ti. Claudius (RE no. 71, PIR2 C 801) Atticus (father of
Herodes Atticus), who discovered an immense treasure on his estate in Attica;
Nerva allowed him to retain it all. He was twice consul, and perhaps proconsul of
Asia c. A.D. 121; cf. P. Graindor Un Milliarde Antique, Hrode Atticus (1930) 2038,
M. Woloch Roman Citizenship and the Athenian Elite (1973) 1637.

434A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

LAUTUS Cf. 140, 14.13 etc. and p. 19.

2 RUTILUS A poor man, not identical with that of 14.18.
MAIORE CACHINNO 3.100.
3 PAUPER APICIUS An oxymoron; cf. on 4.23.
OMNIS Nominative plural; cf. on 2.111.
4 CONVICTUS Social gatherings, particularly convivia; cf. Quintil. 6.3.27 in
convictibus et cotidiano sermone, Mart. 12 pr.
THERMAE Cf. Athen. 1.1de.
STATIONES lounges, any place where people gathered and conversed (Pliny
Ep. 1.13.2, 2.9.5); cf. SG 1.21617 = 1.253 and for |[493] the various technical senses of
the word La Piana Harv. Theol. Rev. 20, 1927, 255 and RE s.v.
THEATRUM Mart. 7.76.2.
5 DE RUTILO sc. loquuntur, cf. 13.181, 14.189.
MEMBRA SUFFICIUNT Cf. [Quintil.] Decl. 335 p. 318.6.
6 GALEAE Cf. 7.33 patiens cassidis. P and some others read iuvenalia (which
seems to mean with the vigour of youth), iuvenilia (which apparently means
immature).
ARDENT See on 6.325, 10.217.
FERTUR is usually taken to mean he rushes on in his course of extravagance
which will end in his signing, cf. 6.648. But it is more likely to mean it is said;
bankrupts do not necessarily turn gladiator, it is not possible to divine beforehand
what action the tribune will take, and this interpretation links up better with the
idea of gossip (so Housman CR1 17, 1903, 468 = Coll. Papers 615).
7 When a Roman citizen was about to hire himself out as a gladiator (cf. 2.143,
7.33, 8.199), he was obliged to notify one of the tribunes of the plebs (S.C. de
sumptibus munerum minuendis of A.D. 1768, CIL 2.6278 = ILS 5163 = FIRA 1 no.
49 p. 300 lines 62 sqq. = Oliver and Palmer Hesperia 24, 1955, 334); they apparently could confirm or refuse to confirm such a contract (unless PROHIBENTE is
merely a joking allusion to tribunician intercessio). Cf. Kaser2 357 n. 42.
NON COGENTE Not (as Mommsen Ges. Schr. 8.525) that the tribune could
force him to become a gladiator; Juvenal simply drags in an allusion to the fact
that compulsion had been applied to make men fight in the arena (e.g. by Nero
8.193).
SED NEC PROHIBENTE Cicero would have said sed ne proh. quidem; cf. 136,
Ovid Ex Ponto 1.1.19 etc.
8 To sign the conditions and tyrannous terms of the trainer, the auctoramentum or oath taken by gladiators (Hor. Serm. 2.7.589, Sen. Ep. 37.12, Petron. 117);
by this the gladiator surrendered his legal rights and became a chattel of the lanista, who was thus rex over him ([Quintil.] Decl. 9.22 subire dominum lanistam); cf.
de Robertis 1658. For the prizes of these auctorati cf. the S.C. adduced on 7 and
Mommsen Ges. Schr. 8.528 (add Lucian Toxaris 59); for bankrupts turning gladi-

SATIRE eleven435

ator cf. [Quintil.] Decl. 302 p. 191.24 qui gula se auctorasset and Balsdon1 290, SG
2.489 and 17 = 2.59 and 19, Stein 4336 and 503 (add Sen. Ep. 87.9).
9 PORRO As well as Rutilus; cf. 6.240.
10 MACELLI There were a number of these markets; cf. 64, on 5.95, RE and
PlatnerAshby s.v., ES 5.230 n. 25, Blmner1 641, Harcum 58, Ward-Perkins JRS
60, 1970, 1516. |[494]
11 VIVENDI CAUSA Cf. 8.84; in this application see Ad Herenn. 4.39 esse oportet ut vivas, non vivere ut edas (cf. Quintil. 9.3.85), derived from an anecdote of
Socrates reported by Diog. Laert. 2.34 and elsewhere (see Sternbach on Gnomol.
Vat. 479).
12 EGREGIUS An adverb in the comparative degree, a rare type of formation
(Leumann 498, NeueWagener 2.202); here MELIUS helps to identify it for what
it is. The sense would be more precisely expressed by eo melius cenat quo miserior
et quo citius casurus est or ut quisque miserrimus et citissime casurus, ita optime et
maxime egregie cenat.
13 IAM PERLUCENTE RUINA while the falling building (10.107) already lets
in the light through cracks, cf. Plaut. Rud. 102, Sen. Herc. Fur. 1001 and on 3.196.
The mans fortunes are compared to a house about to fall.
14 INTEREA Until the crash comes.
GUSTUS flavours i.e. dainty dishes; sapores is similarly used.
ELEMENTA (15.86) PER OMNIA Sea, earth and air at least, if not fire; Lucan
10.1557, Ovid Ex Ponto 1.10.9, Dio Cass. 65.3.1, Macrob. Sat. 3.17.15, Philo Vit.
Contempl. 54, Clem. Alex. Paed. 2.1.3.2, cf. SG 2.148 = 2.288. Cf. Apul. Met. 11.23
per omnia elementa vectus.
15 INTERIUS Manil. 1.25 and 31.
16 So Hor. Serm. 2.2.256, Petron. 93, Sen. Ep. 122.14, Dial. 12.10.5, NQ 4.13.34,
Mart. 13.76, SHA 17.29.9.
EMENTUR The future seems hard to justify and is perhaps due to 36; if it is
right it will have to be interpreted will have to be bought. perhaps had the present (intentius emunt quae carius distrahuntur); see the apparatus.
17 Therefore they make no bones about pawning the family plate; OPPOSITIS
sc. pignori. ARCESSERE Cf. Sall. Hist. fr. 2.97 argentum mutuum arcessivit.
18 FRACTA Broken up, for re-use, cf. 102; Pliny NH 35.4 imagines have been
replaced by argenteae facies ut frangat heres.
19 QUADRINGENTIS NUMMIS 400 sesterces, cf. 7.139.
20 FICTILE (cf. index adjectives acting as nouns) Because their silver dishes
have been pawned to pay for the delicacies, cf. 1089, 3.168, 10.257. The combination with GULOSUM is paradoxical; gourmets would normally dine off silver
or gold.
MISCELLANEA The mess of the gladiators school (6.82, 8.199), a sad contrast
to their previous food; notes genus miserabile ferculi omnia quae apponuntur

436A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

eis miscent et sic manducant. Cf. SG 2.56 = 2.678, Balsdon1 427 n. 281.
21 REFERT 6.657; ERGO resumes 12; HAEC EADEM referring to 16; PARET
buys (see on 3.224). |[495]
22 LUXURIA EST sc. haec parare. Heinrichs conjecture (with which one may
compare Tac. Germ. 36.1) supplies an expressed subject and lessens the tautology
of laudabile nomen sumit et famam trahit, but is not imperatively required for
either purpose.
VENTIDIO Some rich man; Hanslik RE no. 6 sees in him the man of Tac. Ann.
1.10.5 as emended by E. Wolff and R. Ehwald (or a descendant of his).
LAUDABILE NOMEN i.e. lautitia (cf. 1).
25 OMNIBUS All the others, cf. 66, 42 and on 2.164; Greek and Latin often
speak inclusively in comparisons.
HIC It is common in a double relative clause to find a demonstrative substituted for the second relative; KS 2.3245, HS 5656. The meaning depends on the
combination of the clauses, with the first subordinate in sense (cf. index parataxis); while skilled in geography, the man is unaware of the comparative depth of
purses (cf. Hor. Epist. 1.7.23), a very Socratic and Senecan sentiment.
IGNORAT The subjunctive read by most mss. is not defended by 15.16970;
but it is hard to be sure that had the indicative.
267 SACCULUS 14.138, a little purse, contrasted with a large ironbound
strong-box; cf. on 1.90 and Marquardt 677 and 727, Blmner1 35 n. 7 and 12930,
Paoli pl. 29.
E CAELO Cf. 2.40.
The famous motto inscribed on the temple at Delphi and
variously attributed to one or other of the Seven Sages or to Apollo himself; cf.
Cic. De Fin. 5.44 etc., Otto noscere 1, E. G. Wilkins The Delphic Maxims in Literature (1929) 9 and 52. This is the only case in which Juvenal uses Greek words
without contempt; for though this grand precept is applied to the sordid matter of
ones financial position, I do not detect any irony on Juvenals part.
28 FIGENDUM 9.94; PECTORE (memori p. Hor. Serm. 2.4.90) may go with
this , cf. Lucil. 431, Verg. Aen. 3.250.
SIVE CONIUGIUM QUAERAS Callim. Epigr. 1 (see
Pfeiffer) ascribed to Pittacus; Paroemiographi 1.314, 2.674; Ovid Her. 9.32.
SIVE VEL HS 670, KS 2.436.
29 IN PARTE Cf. 101; to take a share in the senate means to be a member of it.
Cf. Ovid Ex Ponto 2.2.102.
SACRI Usually the senate is sanctus, ; SG 4.85 = 4.86 (add
Ovid Ex Ponto 4.9.17).
301 Thersites does not take part in the armorum iudicium, cf. 8.269 sqq. This
was a stock example of the schools; cf. Socrates ap. Stob. Flor. 3.4.118 (3 p. 250.14),
Lucian Adv. Indoctum 7. |[496]

SATIRE eleven437

IN QUA wearing which (cf. 10.38), the arms having been adjudged to him.
SE TRADUCEBAT Made himself ridiculous (on 2.159). Cf. Ovid Met. 13.103
sqq.
32 MAGNO DISCRIMINE Circumstantial ablative, with great issues involved.
ADFECTAS After the parenthesis neque Ulixes the construction changes
and a new apodosis CONSULE is provided. TU Anybody (on 2.61); for its position
in the second clause only cf. Leo 1.96 (e.g. Lucan 2.638, Hor. Odes 1.9.16 and Epist.
1.2.63, Sen. Herc. Fur. 1246).
33 TE CONSULE Examine yourself; Sen. Ep. 59.14, NQ 4 pr. 18, De Ben. 6.38.5;
Pliny Ep. 7.16.5.
QUI The only instance in Juvenal of this form of the interrogative (cf. on 7.63);
but it is usual before the subjunctive of esse (HS 540, Lfstedt 2.84, Fordyce on
Catull. 17.22).
Quintil. 6.1.45 metiatur ac diligenter aestimet vires suas actor.
34 MATHO A causidicus 1.32 (q.v.), 7.129.
BUCCAE Mouthers, windbags; 3.35 is slightly different.
35 Cf. 6.358, Pliny NH 2.4, Hor. Epist. 1.7.98, Sen. Dial. 9.6.12.
SUMMIS MINIMISQUE Cf. 1.14, 6.349, 8.111.
37 MULLUM See on 4.15 for the price of this fish.
GOBIO A cheap fish, Blmner1 182 n. 4 (add Lucil. 938 and Marx); for the formation of the word see Frei-Korsunsky 21.
SIT IN LOCULIS (on 1.90) i.e. the price of a gobio; cf. Plaut. Persa 317 boves
bini hic sunt in crumina and 264, Asin. 589, Truc. 6545 and 956.
38 Hor. Epist. 1.4.11 non deficiente crumina; the word CRUMINA is an archaism (Watson JRS 60, 1970, 112).
EXITUS See on 7.129.
3940 Ovid Met. 8.8434 iamque fame patrias altaque voragine ventris / attenuarat opes, 846 demissa in viscera censu (Erysicthon). For MERSIS cf. on 14.9
and Phaedr. 4.6.10; for IN VENTREM Apul. Apol. 75 quae omnia in ventrem
condidit and the joke at Plaut. Trin. 424. Hence vorago, gurges, barathrum applied
to gourmands. See also Manil. 4.538 censumque immerget in ipso.
REBUS sc. paternis with an .
41 ARGENTI GRAVIS Sen. Dial. 9.1.7, Varro Sat. Men. 170; silver plate. The
weight was sometimes inscribed, Petron. 31; cf. Blmner1 393 n. 4, SG 2.209 = 2.358
and 4.278 = 4.301, ILS 861719.
DOMINIS Owners of the property mentioned; Heinrich suggested damnis,
comparing 6.508.
42 POST CUNCTA Cf. on 25 and 8.97. |[497]
EXIT Leaves the family; a technical legal term for the alienation of property (Thes.
1362.53) e.g. Cic. 2 Verr. 2.61. But it is also used of taking off a ring (Ovid Am. 2.15.19).

438A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

NOVISSIMUS Cf. 6.356.

43 Crepereius Pollio, the debtor of 9.68, is an eques, and when he is bankrupted and loses his census he has to lay aside the ring, the sign of his rank (cf.
129, 7.88, Stein 23 n. 2 and 39 n. 1, Nicolet 138, Vassileiou Ant. Class. 40, 1971,
649, Henderson JRS 53, 1963, 67); cf. SG 1.134 = 1.147. At Mart. 2.57.7 a spendthrift
pawns his to live.
44 Thinking of Apicius, who poisoned himself when he no longer had enough
money left to satisfy his tastes (Dio Cass. 57.19.5, Sen. Dial. 12.10.9, Mart. 3.22).
ACERBUM Premature; this is a common combination (Thes. s.v. 368.17,
Blmner1 489). The metaphor of unripe fruit is developed CEL 1490.
LUXURIAE i.e. luxuriosis hominibus (cf. 2.34, 10.120); dative of agent.
MORTE MAGIS These words form a parenthesis, since they apply only to
senectus, not to cineres and funus; it is as if Juvenal had said metuenda senectus, et
quidem morte magis.
46 GRADUS The stages in the rakes progress.
CONDUCTA Borrowed (resuming 910): this word has a monetary object
only here and in similar context at Hor. Serm. 1.2.9, though locare often has.
47 ET even.
DOMINIS The owners and lenders of the money, fenoris auctores.
PAULUM NESCIO QUID sc. only.
49 QUI makes no sense; what happens to those who do not go into exile? Perhaps we should read iam; then VERTERE becomes an instantaneous perfect, cf.
on 3.124.
VERTERE SOLUM hoc est sedem ac locum mutant Cic. Pro Caec. 100, cf. De
Domo 78. Juvenal is alluding to an institution of Republican times, when some
Italian municipalities retained enough independence to receive exiles from Rome
(RE exilium 16834, Strachan-Davidson 2.358, Mommsen1 3.48, Cic. Pro Balbo
28); but of course this no longer existed under the Empire, and these debtors are
not going into legal exile, but simply avoiding the eyes of their creditors.
BAIAS ET AD OSTREA A kind of epexegesis (on 1.76). For Baiae cf. 3.4;
the oysters are those of the Lucrine Lake (4.1401, 8.856, Varro Sat. Men. 549,
Blmner1 188 n. 18).
50 CEDERE FORO i.e. to be bankrupt, since all financial business was carried
on there (10.25); cf. Sen. De Ben. 4.39.2, Ulpian Dig. 16.3.7.2, Julian Dig. 42.7.5,
Blmner1 654 n. 8. |[498]
51 ESQUILIAS A superior district 3.71, 5.77.
FERVENTI (bustling) SUBURA This was quite the opposite (3.5); it had many
shops (cf. 141) and brothels; cf. Mart. 12.18.12 (to Juvenal; cf. p. 2) and Platner
Ashby s.v. So these bankrupts regard deterioration as improvement.
52 CIRCENSIBUS (10.81) Cf. 3.223, 6.87 and on 8.117. Other towns besides
Rome had circuses (SG10 2.24, 4.241; Enciclopedia dell Arte Antica 2.652), but none

SATIRE eleven439

could provide the excitement of the Roman circus games. The poet himself is
quite happy to stay away from them 193 sqq.
54 An apology for a blush, 10.300 (13.242). This would be better written
gutta; morantur Urbe Pudorem. They do not blush, for nowadays Pudor is a
laughing-stock and nobody pays any heed (or holds it back) as it flees from Rome
(cf. Pudicitia fleeing from men 6.20, Hes. Op. 199).
RIDICULUM Thuc. 3.83.1.
57 VITA ET This cannot be right, and the true reading can hardly be recovered, cf. BICS 14, 1967, 44. One might adopt Ps genitive and read vitae tibi with
Bcheler, but then vitae moribus and re look unbalanced (contrast Cic. De Fin.
1.65 hoc vita et factis et moribus comprobavit). Most plausible so far is Prof.
Nisbets suggestion <tibi> vita et; tibi (spelt tivi) could easily drop out before vit-.
58 SI i.e. NUMQUID NON PRAESTEM (ut non praestem) SI; in effect numquid non praestem laudando.
SILIQUAS A poor food, Andr 82, Blmner1 165 n. 14.
PULTES The traditional Roman porridge (like Italian polenta) cf. 108, 14.171;
Blmner1 160 n. 3 and 162, Marquardt 298 and 415, Andr 62; prepared from far,
husked emmer wheat.
IN AURE Cf. Ad Herenn. 4.50.63, Hor. Serm. 1.9.9.
PLACENTAS Honey cakes, Andr 215.
DICTEM Ordering the meal, imperem; PUERO i.e. servo.
60 sqq. Alluding to Verg. Aen. 8.362 sqq., the minor hospes aquis ad sidera
missus being Aeneas, said to have been drowned in the Numic(i)us and elevated to
heaven as (Iuppiter) Indiges (cf. Tibull. 2.5.434 cum te veneranda Numici / unda
deum caelo miserit Indigitem); the flammis ad sidera missus is Hercules, cremated
on Oeta. The grandeur with the humorous periphrasis is mildly ironical; Juvenal
is poking fun at himself. 613 show chiastic order.
CONTINGENS Cf. on 8.7; attingere caelum Sil. It. 8.295.
PROMISSUS engaged; promittere ad cenam is common.
64 NUNC Cf. 7.36.
NULLIS ORNATA MACELLIS takes up 10 and 36. Cf. Hor. Serm. 2.2.120 sqq.
non piscibus Urbe petitis (i.e. from the macellum) / sed pullo |[499] (= matribus Juv.
71) atque HAEDO; tum pensilis (= servatae 71) UVA secundas / ORNABAT mensas; ibid. 116 non ego temere edi luce profesta (cf. 83) / quicquam praeter holus
(cf. 79) fumosae cum pede pernae (cf. 824).
ORNATA suggests elaborate display; Sen. Ep. 95.27 multorum ferculorum ornamenta coeant, Mart. 13.91.2. As at Mart. 10.59.3 ex omni instructa macello
cena, MACELLIS may mean products of the macellum (cf. Housman on Manil.
5.376); but this is not inevitable.
65 There are no hors doeuvres.
TIBURTINO AGRO The mention of the vilica (the wife of the vilicus) in 69

440A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

shows that this is a farm of Juvenals own at Tibur. Literary men traditionally had
farms in the Campagna (Horace, Martial, Statius), cf. Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep.
1.24.1. This poem lays much stress on direct links with the country, in the tradition
of old Rome, and rejection of the city (cf. 64, 7881, 98, 13641, 15160, 193 sqq.).
66 INSCIUS HERBAE Cf. Colum. 7.3.13, Pliny NH 28.220; still unweaned.
TOTO Cf. on 25 and 2.164.
SALICTI Verg. Georg. 2.434.
68 PLUS LACTIS QUAM SANGUINIS Cf. lacteum porcum Mart. 3.47.12,
lactentia viscera of infants Ovid Fasti 6.137. This line and 71 are very similar in
rhythm; cf. on 6.237.
MONTANI ASPARAGI (5.82) Cf. RE s.v. 1713.37 and 55, Pliny NH 19.145; asparagus is one of the Philemon fr. 98 K = 4 p. 38 fr. inc. 12 M.
69 She lays aside her spinning to gather fruit, vegetables and flowers (Mart.
9.60.3).
70 The eggs were wrapped in hay to prevent breakage in transport (Mart.
3.47.14; cf. on 3.1014); these ones are still warm.
MATRIBUS Cf. Ovid Fasti 4.696, Mart. 7.31.1; i.e. gallinis.
712 It is now April (193), so the grapes have been kept for about six months
since the vintage. Pars may mean a good part (but note that at 12.110 it is strengthened by aliquam) or even a half (Munro on Lucr. 2.200, OLD pars 4 b); here we
have the common Silver ablative of duration.
SERVATAE Mart. 1.43.3 non quae de tardis servantur vitibus uvae (for this
frequent line-ending see Citroni); cf. Pliny NH 14.16 with Andr, 15.627, Apicius
1.17 and more in the agricultural writers (MarescalchiDalmasso 12).
73 SIGNINUM From Signia in Latium (Macrob. Sat. 3.19.6, Celsus 4.26 = 19.5);
the so-called Syrian (Verg. Georg. 2.88) did originate |[500] from Syria (RE Birnbaum 491.54, 496.44), but in fact were now produced at Tarentum. The two kinds
are associated Colum. 5.10.18, Celsus 2.24.2, Pliny NH 15.535.
74 redolentia mala Ovid Met. 8.675 (cf. on 77), just before vitibus uvae; cf.
Bmer there and Juv. 5.150.
ISDEM This indicates economy and simplicity.
PICENIS Hor. Serm. 2.4.70, 2.3.272; Priapea 51.7. Martial in his invitation
poems mentions olives from there.
756 When winters cold has dried up their autumnal juice and removed (cf.
69) the perils of unripeness; a bold use of autumnus which has to be interpreted in
the light of the neighbouring words. For the view that apples are more unhealthy
off the tree than stored for a time see Augustine De Moribus Manich. 43; cf. Galen
De Alim. Fac. 2.21.6 (CMG 5.4.2 p. 290), Pliny NH 23.100, Dioscorides 1.115.1 and 4.
77 IAM LUXURIOSA quite lavish cf. 3.206; by now lavish, in contrast with
the yet more primitive times of Curius, cf. Pliny NH 18.18 luxuriantis iam rei p.
fuit ista mensura (followed in 19 by a reference to the personal cultivation of their

SATIRE eleven441

lands by the generals of old). Then Curius legerat, now vilica legit 69. M Curius
Dentatus, censor 272 B.C. and famous for his part in the wars against the Samnites
and Pyrrhus, was an exemplum of old Roman simplicity and frugality (cf. 2.3 and
153); Juvenal has in mind the famous story (RE Curius 1844) that the envoys of the
Samnites found him cooking vegetables, cf. Sen. Dial. 12.10.8. This passage resembles 14.16172; Juvenal is thinking of the famous meal of Baucis and Philemon,
Ovid Met. 8.646 sqq. (cf. on 74 and note collegerat horto holus).
IPSE Not even a slave.
HOLUSCULA A modest traditional meal, contrasted with meat 81 sqq.; cf.
1.134, Hor. Serm. 2.2.166 sqq., 2.6.64 (with lardo, cf. 84 and Petron. 39.11) etc., Marquardt 298 and (of the Roman poor) Pliny NH 19.52.
IN MAGNA COMPEDE FOSSOR In the chain-gangs on the ergastulum, cf.
8.180, Colum. 1.8.16, Marquardt 180, Blmner1 54950; contrasted with the fossor
of 89. For the wording cf. Ovid Ex Ponto 1.6.31, Tristia 4.1.5; Lucan 7.402.
81 He has been sent from the town to work in the country as a punishment (cf.
8.180), and thinks back longingly on urban pleasures (cf. Hor. Epist. 1.14.21).
CALIDAE POPINAE 8.172, 6.121, Hor. Serm. 2.4.62, Mart. 1.41.910, Suet.
Vitell. 13; common haunts of slaves (8.174, 179; Colum. 1.8.2, Plaut. Trin. 1021). Cf.
Balsdon1 153.
SAPIAT QUID Cf. 121. |[501]
VOLVA A favourite delicacy, Andr 141, Marquardt 329, Blmner1 174 n. 4;
contrasted with 82 sqq.
82 Pork is the characteristic meat of the ordinary people of Rome (Highet 778,
E. Fraenkel Elementi Plautini (1960) 239 and 408, Andr 139, Marquardt 42930,
Blmner1 1734; of the old days Ovid Fasti 6.169 sqq.); cow (which was also a
working animal), sheep and (in spite of 65) goat were too valuable as sources of
milk and wool to be recklessly slaughtered for meat (cf. Antiphanes ap. Athen.
9.402de). In farm-houses a side of pork would hang from an open (RARA) wicker-work frame attached to the ceiling, cf. Ovid Met. 8 l.c., Moretum 556, Colum.
12.55.3, Petron. 135. SICCI (7.119) = durati sale in the Moretum. RARA craticula at
Mart. 14.221 appears to be a kind of griddle, like spissa c. at Marcell. Med. 8.101.
83 MORIS ERAT Cf. Thes. s.v. 1528.84, HS 62, Lfstedt 2.408; so also consuetudinis.
FESTIS DIEBUS (dative) Cf. Ovid Fasti 6.179 caesa sue festa colebant.
NATALICIUM Only on birthdays; English idiom would incline to express the
meaning by an adverb, cf. on 1.28, 3.12, 4.108 (all of time). One would then have a
feast in honour of the genius (Cic. Phil. 2.15 dat nataliciam (dapem), Gell. 19.9.1,
Marquardt 251), though one would not perform a sacrifice (on 12.1); so the meat
comes from some other sacrifice.
85 NOVA CARNE Contrasted with the salted pork; Cod. Theodos. 7.4.6 lari
dum vel recens forsitan caro. In ancient sacrifices certain parts of the victim were

442A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

burnt, the rest was sold or used by the offerer as an occasion for a feast (whence
popina from popa; Andr 138, Latte 391, Wissowa 419, RE immolatio 1132).
CARNE Carnem (see the apparatus) might also be legitimate; it is not common
for a noun attracted into a relative clause to leave behind an adjective in the main
clause, but it does happen (e.g. Plaut. Capt. 179, Lucr. 1.1523, Cic. Phil. 2.44, Hor.
Epode 2.37, Serm. 1.4.2, Livy 31.22.6, 32.5.9, Germanicus 21, Sil. It. 1.280, 13.4001,
Mart. 9.49.12; a doubtful instance with a participle Vell. Pat. 2.80.3); cf. HS 564.
Similar questions arise at 10.211, 254; at 2.41, 3.91, 14.85 a demonstrative pronoun is
left behind, which is not uncommon. Marx on Plaut. Rud. 77 remarks that in such
cases (in Greek also) the attracted antecedent is usually last word in the line in poetry. But the accusative here, where ACCEDENTE makes a difference, is probably
due to scribal assimilation; cf. 12.59 and the variants at Prop. 4.7.7.
86 TITULO See on 5.110.
88 For an ordinary meal of vegetables they would return at the usual time;
14.16971. |[502]
89 ERECTUM Over his shoulder.
MONTE implies hard farming; cf. 2.74, 8.245. The common metaphor of
DOMITO (Thes. s.v. 1946.18; e.g. Verg. Aen. 9.608, Mart. 4.64.323; Sen. Ep. 86.5
of Scipio terram, ut mos fuit priscis, ipse subigebat) goes well with this, but it also
carries on the military context of 868, so that, expecting erectum domito referens
ab HOSTE PILUM, we meet an It is a common-place that the old
Romans like Curius alternated between the dignity of office and personal toil in
the fields; e.g. Pliny quoted on 77 and 36.111, Cic. Pro Rosc. Am. 501, Colum. praef.
13, Val. Max. 4.4.4.
901 The names are arranged so that singular and plural alternate. A number
of Fabii were censors (e.g. the Fabius Gurges of 6.266 perhaps in 289 B.C.; Broughton 1.184); durus Cato (Mart. 11.2.12) was censor 184 B.C., M. Aemilius Scaurus
(who passed a sumptuary law as consul 115 B.C.) 109 B.C., Fabricius (cf. 2.154, 9.141)
275 B.C. The plural SCAUROS is probably generic as at 2.35; for the combination
with a singular cf. 1.109, 8.35 and 182, 10.1089, Catull. 14.1819, Manil. 4.867,
Pers. 3.79, Colum. 4.11.1. Some have seen a reference to M. Aurelius Scaurus, but
he was never censor. Cf. also Hor. Odes 1.12.37.
91 RIGIDIQUE Cf. 10.31 rigidi censura; Ovid AA 2.664 rigidus censor. rigidiq;
was lost after -ricium and in P the gap was filled with postremo, a word not found
in Juvenal or most Latin poetry outside Lucretius (Housman). Sidon. Apoll. Carm.
7.226 rigidum Fabricium.
92 This refers to the quarrels between M. Livius Salinator and C. Claudius
Nero, censors in 204 B.C. (Broughton 1.306).
94 OCEANI Cf. 113; mare Oceanus is found as an apposition, and even mare
Oceanum (Ampel. 1 and 7; Avienius Phaen. 2.1153 is corrupt), but that does not
defend fluctus Oceanus (PA). Here the reference is to the Indian Ocean (Pliny

SATIRE eleven443

NH 9.35, Thorley G & R2 16, 1969, 220; Warmington 166; C. L. Ransom Studies in
Ancient Furniture (1905) 55); the Edict of Diocletian 16.7 mentions testudo Indica.
This line introduces the theme of foreign luxuries which becomes prominent.
TESTUDO 6.80, 14.308, Pliny NH 33.146, Marquardt 310, RE Betten 371,
Blmner1 117 n. 2 and 2 2.377 n. 2.
95 TROIUGENIS See on 1.100.
FULCRUM See on 6.21 and Anderson there adduced.
96 ET couples the adjectival nudo latere with the adjective parvis (3.203), cf.
3.48, 9.2931, 12.30 sqq. and HS 818. Their sides were unadorned with tortoise-shell
or anything else, and their only adornment was the frons aerea; this frons (Val.
Max. 2.10.3) is the head-end, identical with the fulcrum. Hygin. Fab. 274.1 also
speaks |[503] of ass-heads on the fulcrum crowned with vine-leaves, the ass being
connected by legend with the discovery of the vine and the worship of Bacchus;
but in fact in all extant cases the heads appear to be of mules or horses (Ransom
l.c. 83, Hoffmann AJA 61, 1957, 167, Neugebauer Ath. Mitt. 57, 1932, 2941); Juvenal
has probably been misled by thinking of the sexual vigour of the ass (on 9.92). Cf.
Deonna Rev. Belge Phil. 34, 1956, 6401.
98 LASCIVI (Mart. 14.79.1) RURIS ALUMNI The playful rustic children, cf.
14.1689; children ate ad fulcra lectorum (Suet. Claud. 32).
99 The paragraph 7789 dealt with the simple food of olden days, 90119 deals
with the simple equipment of lifecouches (908), table service (1009), statues
of the gods (11016), tables (11719). 1089 closes the discussion of the table service with the remark they used simple dishes for their simple food; 99 is clearly
meant to form a similar conclusion to the discussion of couches, so their houses
and furniture were as simple as their food. Ruperti proposed quales talis, and
this is indeed what modern idiom would lead us to expect; but Latin idiom in expressions of this kind sometimes seems to reverse the terms (e.g. Plaut. Aul. 672;
Sen. Ep. 12.6, 77.7, 55.3 (quoted on 10.567), Dial. 1.3.6, 7.8.1, De Clem. 1.3.3, 1.13.3; I
have argued in CR2 14 1964, 49 that Cic. De Rep. 1.50 is to be understood thus, and
Juv. 14.255 is also comparable). Linguistically therefore there is no objection to the
line, but nevertheless it may well be spurious; it is weak, and the reference back to
the food is not so well motivated by the context as in 108.
100 Livy 25.40.2 (after Polyb. 9.10) dates the initium mirandi Graecarum artium opera in 212 B.C. Scenes of vandalism such as those alluded to here are described at the capture of Corinth in 146 B.C. by Polybius 39.2 B-W and Florus
1.32.67, and Varro Sat. Men. 97 may come from a similar context; but the Roman
army had become more appreciative in 84 B.C. (Sall Cat. 11.6; cf. Petron. 119.9).
RUDIS A term of praise cf. 143.
GRAIAS The more elevated word as contrasted with Livys Graecarum gives a
touch of sarcasm, cf. 8.226, 10.138, 15.110.
ARTES Works of art.

444A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

101 Livy 5.46.4 in parte praedae esse; cf. 29.

102 MAGNORUM ARTIFICUM e.g. Mentor (8.104).
FRANGEBAT Break up for re-working cf. 18.
103 PHALERIS Ornamental medallions, cf. on 1089, 16.60 (but there of humans), RE s.v., RSV 2.575, Webster (see Sixteen introduction) 1512, Bttner Bnner Jahrb. 157, 1957, 133 and 145.
CAELATA i.e. with a piece of chasing taken from the cup and fastened on to
the helmet. |[504]
104 SIMULACRA Poetic plural. All these scenes were of course common topics for engraving, especially on weapons and armour. There is a tinge of epic parody; we think of the scenes described on the shields of Achilles and Aeneas (cf.
Vergil adduced on 105).
105 IMPERII FATO Pliny NH 8.61.
SUB RUPE In a cave (Verg. Aen. 8.630 on Aeneas shield; Sil. It. 5.143 on the
shield of Flaminius); Fabius Pictor ap. Dion. Hal. AR 1.79 mentions a .
QUIRINOS i.e. Romulus (8.259) and Remus; so Castores = Castor and Pollux,
Polluces (cf. geminus Pollux Hor. Odes 3.29.64, though geminus Castor at Ovid AA
1.746 is not a clear case); Romuli = Romulus and Remus is conjectured at Tertull.
De Corona 12; geminas Alpes = Alps and Pyrenees, Sidon. Apoll. Carm. 5.593; for
Hecatae cf. Wissowa 378; seems to mean Deucalion and Pyrrha at
Theocr. 15.141; but Scyllae at Lucr. 4.732, Verg. Aen. 6.286, Stat. Theb. 4.533 should
be interpreted in the light of Lucr. 5.893. See further Lfstedt 1.66 sqq., NeueWagener 1.592, Bell 34, HS 19, Meister 113 sqq., Puhvel AJP 98, 1977, 404 and on reges
13.52.
106 Mars is on his way to visit Rhea Silvia; in works of art representing this
theme he is shown naked except for a chlamys floating behind him, armed with
shield and spear, and generally flying. Such representations may be seen in Alfldi Mus. Helv. 7, 1950, 9 pl. 3.1 (cf. p. 11 n. 20); ML 4.657; Mattingly 4 pl. 6.4 and
32.14; D. Raoul Rochette Monuments Indits (1833) 35 pl. viii.1; C. O. MllerF.
Wieseler Denkmler der Ant. Kunst (185481) 2 pl. 23 no. 253 (a, b, c). The works
of art are thus against construing the ablatives offered by the mss. with NUDAM,
though this can be supported by Ovid Fasti 3.1 and 9. Fulgentis (see the apparatus)
is an obvious interpolation from 108. The text therefore must be corrupt, and the
simplest correction is the addition of IN; cf. Thes. s.v. 770.1 and Claudian III Cons.
Honor. 48 in clipeo. The line will then metrically resemble 1.135, 3.237, 6.327 and
366, 15.174. Ullmann 284 suggested vementis, comparing 9.11 and for the scansion
of vemens Catull. 50.21, but this would lose the reference to Mars coming to visit
Rhea; admittedly some deny this reference and understand VENIENTIS from the
view-point of the enemy who see the Roman helmets as they charge (cf. 113).
107 Fierce representations, e.g. Gorgons, on shields to terrify the enemy were
common; Denniston on Eur. El. 4567, Chase HSCP 13, 1902, 61, Wickert Philol.

SATIRE eleven445

85, 1930, 299.

108 TUSCO CATINO The cheap common pottery produced particularly at
Arretium (Pliny NH 35.160, Mart. 1.53.6, Marquardt 659); |[505] cf. Pers. 2.60, Mart.
14.98. PONEBANT They served up (84 etc.); FARRATA (SHA 14.5.8) i.e. pultes
(58), cf. Andr 63.
1089 Cf. Livy 22.52.4 of the spoil taken by Hannibal at Cannae praeter siquid argenti, quod plurimum in phaleris equorum (cf. 103) erat, nam ad vescendum
facto perexiguo, utique militantes, utebantur.
110 LIVIDULUS See on 6.425; the diminutive appears to have hardly any force,
and the line seems generally odd. It is curious that this line and 111 have almost the
same type of caesura and monosyllabic ending; see on 6.237. TUNC See on 6.235;
SI only if, ironically.
111 PRAESENTIOR more near to help cf. 3.18 and OLD s.v. 3. The story of this
divine warning given near the temple of Vesta in 391 B.C. is told by Livy 5.32.6 etc.
(see Pease on Cic. De Div. 1.101, Latte 501); it gave rise to the cult of Aius Locutius.
MEDIAMQUE A pointless trick of style; tacitamque Nisbet 237 (noctis silentio
Livy).
113 LITORE AB OCEANI A rhetorical exaggeration due to Livy 5.37.2. Part of
Gaul was bounded by the Ocean; but by Livys own account these Gauls had been
settled in Etruria for 200 years Duff.
VENIENTIBUS This word often carries an implication of attacking, e.g. Lucr.
3.833, Culex 34, Verg. Aen. 12.510, 6.291.
HIS hac voce et huiusmodi signis Madvig.
116 FICTILIS This is a standing symbol of simplicity; Sen. Ep. 31.11 cogita illos
(sc. deos) cum propitii essent fictiles fuisse, Sen. Contr. 2.1.18. The oldest statues at
Rome were of terracotta, in the Etruscan style (Marquardt 640, Pliny NH 34.34);
the first image of Jupiter for the Capitol was made at Veii on the orders of the elder
Tarquin (cf. Pliny NH 35.157, Ovid Fasti 1.202, Cic. De Div. 1.16).
VIOLATUS Cf. 3.20, Verg. Aen. 12.67 (representing Homers Il. 4.141),
Lucan 9.519. W. Schulze Quaestiones Epicae (1892) 235 compares ,
but that means unalloyed.
117 DOMI NATAS Home-grown (cf. Otto domus 3 with Nachtrge 158, Friedlaender on Petron. 38.1, Thes. s.v. domus 1957.7), made of ordinary walnut or
beech, not imported Moroccan citrus, cf. on 1.75 and 137, Mart. 14.90 (the poor
gift; though maple wood too is quite elegant). The food too is home-grown 6476
(contrast 139 sqq.), so is the servant (147 sqq.), and the entertainment does not
consist of foreign girls (162). To ancient political theorists one of the chief qualities of a state was (cf. e.g. Cic. De Rep. 2.78, Appian Pun. 869), and so
they disliked foreign imports (cf. on 14.267).
118 HOS hoc (see the apparatus) is a mere assimilation to the nearest noun; one
might construe ad hoc usus (gen. sing.; at Apul. Met. 2.32 F has hoc corrected to

446A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

hos), but hos is usual (e.g. at Apul. 5.29). |[506] STABAT followed by DEIECERAT
seems very infelicitous; perhaps <ex>stabat.
120 sqq. Cf. Fronto p. 14.203, Musonius p. 110.1215 Hense.
121 RHOMBUS See on 4.39; DAMA appears to mean gazelle, cf. Blmner1 176,
Andr 120 (one appears on a Pompeian representation of a butchers shop).
PUTERE VIDENTUR UNGUENTA Cf. Cic. Acad. fr. 11 Mller = p. 21.8 Plasberg ed. min.
UNGUENTA ATQUE ROSAE The usual accompaniments of the commissatio after a banquet; see on 9.128, 4.108, 15.49.
ORBES Round tables (cf. 1.137) supported on carved ivory; EBUR ET PARDUS
is a hendiadys for eburneus pardus, cf. 3.205. See RE Elfenbein 2361.2, Blmner1
1256, Marquardt 723; Stat. Silv. 4.2.38, Dio Cass. 61.10.3.
There was a special guild of eborarii (RE s.v.) and citrarii, cf. Blmner1 611 n. 6.
123 SUBLIMIS Rampant.
124 DENTIBUS Tusks; RE Elfenbein 2357.62.
PORTA SYENES Syene, the most southerly place in the Roman empire, is the
gateway to it; cf. Stat. Silv. 4.4.63, Tac. Ann. 2.61. It is very close to Elephantine.
125 MAURI The African elephants (from Ethiopia and Morocco) lived farther
north than now; Scullard 2431, DS elephas 536b, J. Carcopino Le Maroc Antique
(1943) 41.
CELERES This refers to their famous cavalry.
MAURO OBSCURIOR INDUS This reverses both Lucan 4.678 (Mauro concolor Indus) and the facts; cf. 5.53 and Snowden 2 sqq., 2779.
126 There are no elephants in Arabia, but Petra was on the trade-route from
India, so it was regarded as the source of the ivory which it only transmitted.
Nadeau CQ2 20, 1970, 348 takes the reference to be to Napata in Ethiopia; but no
reader who had recently heard of Trajans annexation of Arabia Petraea would
think of this.
DEPOSUIT Cf. Pliny NH 8.78. In fact elephants do not shed their tusks, cf.
Scullard 228, 232; discoveries of fossil ivory (Theophr. De Lapid. 37 with the note
of Caley and Richards p. 135; thence Pliny NH 36.134) led to this belief.
BELUA 10.158, 12.104.
127 He is criticising a perverted sense of values; the rich attach value to the
mere refuse of a foreign monster (cf. Pliny NH 12 .4).
OREXIS For this word see on 6.428; even the appetite is foreign.
PES ARGENTEUS Even a is despised.
129 The iron ring in Juvenals day was the mark of plebeians; equites and senators wore a gold one. Cf. 7.88, Stat. Silv. 3.3.1435, |[507] Pliny NH 33.933, Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 8.6.4, Mommsen1 3.1.51617.
12930 I do not invite a conceited guest who draws comparisons between my
circumstances (i.e. possessions; cf. 3.24, Mart. 1.55.4 in parvis rebus) and his own;

SATIRE eleven447

this is an indirect compliment to Persicus.

131 ADEO for indeed, so true is it that, cf. 3.274, 12.36; it introduces a clause
explanatory of EXIGUAS.
NULLA UNCIA Plaut. Rud. 913, Mart. 9.3.5 and 48.1011.
TESSELLAE tssrae, dice; often made of ivory, like CALCULI, the counters
used in board games. Cf. Mart. 14.17, RE Elfenbein 2361.62, Blmner1 41415 and
2
2.366. The modesty of Juvenals household is emphasized by the diminutives in
1325.
MANUBRIA CULTELLORUM Cf. 5.122, Marquardt 743. This idea and SECATUR 135 lead on to the STRUCTOR 136.
135 i.e. peior est gallina quae secatur; cf. 5.124. The GALLINA resumes 71 and
contrasts with the birds of 138 sqq.
136 SED NEC Cf. 7, Tac. Germ. 6.2.
STRUCTOR He would both carve and lay the table, cf. 5.120 (the slaves throughout this passage are the opposite of those in Five), 7.184, RE s.v. (2), Blmner1 394,
Marquardt 146.
137 PERGULA The booth or studio used by a teacher of the art of carving (5.122;
cf. Colum. 1 pr. 5, Sen. Ep. 47.6), as by grammatici (Suet. Aug. 94, De Gramm. 18;
SHA 29.10.4); see also 6.O.29. It would be an extension or loggia built above a
shop in an arcade; Blmner1 60 n. 3, Marquardt 93, Mau Rm. Mitt. 2, 1887, 214
sqq., Bonner 1202.
TRYPHERI , a significant name.
138 SUMEN Of a sow, a favourite delicacy, e.g. Mart. 7.78.3 sumen aprum lepo
rem; Andr 141, Blmner1 174. One is seen hanging in a butchers shop, Bossert
and Zschietzschmann 212. It is however odd to find this carved. Cf. 5.167 leporem
apri.
PYGARGUS Antelope; Pliny NH 8.214. This and the following Greek names
scornfully designate degenerate luxuries.
139 SCYTHICAE VOLUCRES Pheasants, aves Phasianae, so called from the
river Phasis (see Toynbee 255 and further references in Lauffer on Edict. Diocl.
4.1720); they are often associated with Afrae aves (1423), guinea-fowl (Petron.
93 etc.), which were raised commercially (Colum. 8.12; cf. Toynbee 253, Andr
1334, Blmner1 179). The phoenicopterus or flamingo also sometimes appears in
such contexts, e.g. Mart. 3.58.1416, 13.713; Philostr. Apollon. 8.7 (cf. Blmner1
180, Andr 128). See SG 2.149 and 165 = 2.288 and 308.
140 ORYX This is also a type of antelope (Toynbee 146; cf. Pliny |[508] NH
10.201); it was kept in Roman game-parks (Colum. 9.1.1 and 7).
HEBETI So that the trainee will not cut himself.
LAUTISSIMA (cf. 1) CENA go together (for the word-order cf. 3.309,
6.4956 and 6067, 10.41, 12.91, 13.2930, 14.3) and are in apposition to the animal-names; the phrase is of course ironical, as this is only a model.

448A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ULMEA CENA Trypherus used wooden models of the various dishes for his
pupils to practise on.
SUBURA Cf. 51.
142 Juvenal implies that expert carvers are also expert filchers.
CAPREAE Roebucks (RE Reh 513, Andr 120); these too were commercially
raised (capreoli Colum. 9 pr. 1 and 9.1).
NOSTER The boy who waits on me.
OMNI TEMPORE all his days Duff.
RUDIS (cf. 146) Like the soldier 100; cf. Mart. quoted on 149. From the caesura
1423 are remarkably similar in rhythm, cf. on 6.237.
144 OFELLAE (Pork) cutlets Dunbabin CR1 49, 1935, 10, cf. Blmner1 174 n. 13.
This needs no carving, Mart. 10.48.15. In this word the diminutive formation has
acquired a special sense, so it can readily be combined with EXIGUAE (contrast
5.85). For such petty thieving see on 9.5.
IMBUTUS He has just had his first taste of it, the usual sense of the word
(14.123).
145 PLEBEIOS CALICES Cf. 5.468, Mart. 14.94.1.
PAUCIS ASSIBUS EMPTOS Mart. 9.59.22.
146 INCULTUS (cf. 143) Sen. Dial. 9.1.7 placet minister incultus et rudis vernula
(cf. 1478), Mart. 4.66.10.
A FRIGORE TUTUS Warmly dressed in thick coarse cloth, not in light or inadequate clothing as an elegant page might be, to display his beauty; cf. Sen. Dial.
10.12.5, Colum. 1.8.9.
147 PHRYX AUT LYCUS flos Asiae 5.56; cf. Bang Rm. Mitt. 25, 1910, 2356.
See on 117.
NON PETITUS i.e. he is a verna; cf. 6.373a mangonum pueros.
148 The reading et might be defended by 5.5660, but in the immediate context
only nationality, not price, is relevant. Read thus:
Lycius, non a mangone petitus
quisquam erit; in magno cum posces, posce Latine.
With MAGNO understand POCULO, and for IN compare Mart. 10.49.45; Athen.
2.58c (also ibid. 15.668f, which is the reference intended by
Heraeus 534); CGL 3.219.27 quoted by Housman. Cic. 2 Verr. 1.66 uses an instrumental ablative |[509] (on 2 .95), fit invitatio ut Graeco more biberetur, hortatur
hospes, poscunt maioribus poculis. This passage implies that the custom, though
adopted at Rome (Hor. Epode 9.33, Serm. 2.8.35; Petron. 65.8; Plut. Brut. 24.4),
retained a Greek flavour. Juvenals point then is that even when Persicus feels in a
Greek mood he must not ask Graece but Latine maiora
adfer pocula, because this verna does not understand Greek. Persicus should not
fall into the luxurious habit of asking for larger cups at Juvenals modest table; he
has not attained to Juvenals level of frugality. See further BICS 13, 1966, 41 and 43.

SATIRE eleven449

149 IDEM HABITUS Whereas a rich house would have groups of slaves in
varied outfits, Sen. Ep. 95.24, Lucan 10.127 sqq.
TONSI Mart. 10.98.9 (tonsos rudes filios subulci, of waiters; cf. Friedlaender on 2.57.5), Sen. Ep. 119.14; RECTI not curled, Sen. Ep. 95.24. In both respects they are unlike the pueri capillati of the rich (cf. 8.128 acersecomes, 5.59
Ganymedem, Blmner1 396).
150 PEXI Pers. 1.15, Hor. Serm. 2.8.70, Quintil. 1.5.14; this indicates a big occasion, cf. 6.26, Marquardt 601.
1512 Their rusticitas is portrayed by the spondees and the hiatus.
152 This is a third waiter, the son of a goat-herd, contrasted with 151. 151 sqq.
elaborate on CUNCTIS 149.
SUSPIRAT With accusative cf. KS 1.263; LONGO TEMPORE see on 9.17. In
spite of his humanitarian attitude to slaves (14.16), Juvenal is callous to the deprivations of slavery.
1545 Ovid Met. 2.13 facies qualem decet esse sororem. INGENUUS means
both free-born and frank, open (2.16); DECET suggests that ingenui in the social sense are not necessarily so in the moral sense, whereas Juvenals boys are ingenui in the moral but not in the social sense. Thus the morals of both host (Mart.
10.98.12) and guest (Hor. Epist. 1.18.72) remain uncorrupted. Cf. Mart. 3.33.4 ancilla facie ingenua (where handsome predominates), Pliny Ep. 1.14.8 facies
liberalis ingenua totius corporis pulchritudo, Petron. 107.6.
153 CASULAM Cf. villa Mart. 10.98.8 for the goats cf. 66.
155 ARDENS Cf. 10.27 and Verg. Aen. 4.262; ignea Val. Fl. 1.427.
PURPURA Of the toga praetexta (Pers. 5.30, Stat. Silv. 5.3.119 etc.), a mark of
ingenuitas (Cic. 2 Verr. 1.113, 152).
156 PUPILLARES Sen. Dial. 4.21.6 pupillis quo plus licuit, corruptior animus
est; notes quales habent hi qui patres non habent, scilicet tumentes in licentia
pueritiae.
DEFERT IN BALNEA 6.3746, 9.345.
RAUCUS This may mean that his voice has not yet broken and he still speaks
in a boyish treble (cf. IAM 157), or that he has not yet |[510] had sexual intercourse
to ruin his voice (on 6.73). Calderini suggested draucus, but this word means one
who performs feats of strength in public and only secondarily acquires an implication of sexual vigour (Housman CR1 44, 1930, 114 = Coll. Papers 1166); it is quite
out of place here, and anyway is only found in Martial and the Notae Tironianae.
157 VELLENDAS PRAEBUIT ALAS To the alipilus or who would
work in the baths (Blmner1 439, Philostr. Apollon. 4.27.1). Adults would normally
have this done (cf. Plaut. Amph. 326), and certainly pueri capillati, catamites and
glabri generally would see to it (Marquardt 147 n. 7); but rough rustics would not
bother (cf. Hor. Epode 12.5, Theophr. Char. 19.3 of the and Steinmetz ad
loc.).

450A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

158 CRASSA Cf. 6.371; GUTO (on 3.263) would be used for anointing in the
baths. The meaning may be either that in his innocence he does not realise that his
genitals are being inspected, or that he has nothing to hide because he does not
suffer from Priapism etc. because of frequent intercourse.
159 Mart. 14.112 hic tibi vina dabit.
DIFFUSA bottled, transferred from the large dolium to the smaller amphora
or cadus, cf. 5.30, Billiard 514. In a rich mans house one would have imported
Greek wines, or at least those of Campania; but this is vile Sabinum from the
mountains of Tibur, like the asparagus (68).
161 A vapid verse composed to explain 15960. Juvenal never allows more than
three elisions in a line (cf. BICS 22, 1975, 1545). For PATRIA cf. 5.34.
162 FORSITAN EXSPECTES Ovid Tristia 1.1.69. Now the notion of pudor is
picked up from 1548.
GADITANA sc. cantica (Mart. 3.63.5; at Pliny Ep. 1.15.3, on which see the introduction, the mss. vary between -a and -as sc. puellas); probably internal accusative after PRURIRE (which is applied to the dancers of Cadiz at Mart. 5.78.268,
14.203.1). The Spaniard Martial often refers to the dances and dancers of Cadiz
(Marquardt 338, Blmner1 412, Wille 200 and 313; cf. modern Spanish Gitana
and Pap. Grenfell 1.53.28, on which see E. Rohde Kl. Schr. 2.4), and he
signals a frugal meal by their absence 5 l.c. (cf. Wille 145), like Pliny l.c.
TREMULO CLUNE Mart. 5 l.c., 14 l.c.; cf. Juv. 6.O.19.
INCIPIANT (cf. 10.262).
165 sqq. If 1656 are retained they must be parenthetical, as otherwise URTICAE (cf. 2.128) in 168 should be accusative. But they are certainly spurious; they
are feeble and irrelevant, ipsis should be |[511] illis (so K; cf. Housman on Manil.
4.860), and clearly they stood not in the text but in the margin of the Juvenalian archetype. But the following lines also show great difficulties. Ista only has
meaning if it refers back to 1656; divitis, which Weidner and Housman thought
corrupt, absurdly anticipates 1718. Moreover what is signified by alterius sexus
(cf. 6.341)? Clearly women (cf. ista with its reference back and 6.64 Tuccia vesicae
non imperat), but where is the masculine contrast? Rennin and Achaintre take the
meaning to be but more pleasure is derived from male dancers ( etc.;
on 6.O.19); they put more effort into their dancing, and the male spectators lust is
soon aroused (for urina cf. on 1.39); but this postulates an odd use of the genitive
after voluptas and an equally odd use of extenditur. Finally on the usual interpretation extenditur (ostenditur F) lacks parallel and should be intenditur or simply
tenditur (cf. Mart. 6.71.3 in a similar context). I therefore follow Ribbeck in deleting 16570, and assume that when this sizeable block was interpolated there was
not room to put it all in one place, so that 1656 and 16770 had to be squeezed
into different parts of the margin and the position to be occupied by 1656 was
not made clear.

SATIRE eleven451

167 Mart. 1.46.12 languet venus.

171 CAPIT , contains; cf. 197 and on 10.148.
TESTARUM Castanets, crotala; Aristoph. Frogs
13056, Athen. 14.636de, Stat. Silv. 1.6.71 cymbala tinnulaeque Gades, Mart. 6.71.1
Baetica crusmata.
VERBIS The obscene words of the Cadiz songs; the language of whores is bad
enough (cf. Herter 96 n. 498), but these songs are even worse.
NUDUM On 6.122; OLIDO 6.132, Hor. Serm. 1.2.30 olenti in fornice stantem;
FORNICE 3.156, 10.239.
STANS This is common enough where prostare would be the technical word;
10.239, Cic. 2 Verr. 2.154 fornix in quo nudus filius stat, Ovid Tristia 2.310 etc.
175 LACEDAEMONIUM Of Spartan marble, mostly black from Taenarus or
green from Taygetus.
ORBEM A circular inlay in the floor (as on the wall, Sen. Ep. 86.6).
PYTISMATE pytissare, () denotes the wine-tasters habit of savouring a sip of wine and then spitting it out; Ter. Haut. 457, Vitruv. 7.4.5 (an emendation).
176 IBI In his case cf. 8.64; FORTUNAE rank, cf. 8.74.
ALEA TURPIS The two vices are coupled Cic. In Cat. 2.23; cf. on 1.88 and Suet.
Claud. 5 aleae infamiam.
MEDIOCRIBUS Cf. 6.582. The word is carefully placed; the reader expects a
full stop at adulterium, then comes this cynical addition. |[512]
178 FACIUNT This is generally adopted so that CUM can be understood as
when, cf. 9.63. But it does not seem to me that OMNIA then fits in well, and I
incline to retain faciant with CUM meaning although. For the shift to the plural
ILLI see index variation.
HILARES Vell. Pat. 2.105.2 eum splendidum aut hilarem potius quam luxuriosum aut desidem diceres. The dactyls of 1778 seem to portray their hilaritas.
179 CONVIVIA Poetic plural; LUDOS entertainments (cf. on 5.157 and Marquardt 3378). Juvenal provides rather than , as Pliny l.c. on
162 a lector (CIL 6.9447 = CEL 1012; Blmner1 410, Marquardt 151) rather than
songs of Cadiz. Cf. SG 1.218 = 1.255, Balsdon1 445 and the Homeristae of Pap. Ox.
519, 1025. For comparisons between Homer and Vergil see on 6.436.
CANTABITUR (cf. 4.35) as compared with LEGANTUR 182 suggests a kind of
recitative or ( Athen. 6.620c); cf. Petron. 68, SG 2.339 = 2.163.
182 Juvenal does not have an expert professional lector. He claims that Vergil
can survive even this treatment (cf. the similar point of 1345), but Petron. l.c.
disagrees.
ALTISONI A deliberately grand compound.
1835 Cf. Hor. Epist. 1.5 (see introduction).1011 (licebit).
1856 A difficult passage with two problems: (1) Is the fenus owed to or by

452A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Persicus? The former seems more pointed; an invitation to a simple meal carries a
lesson for a man of substance (see the introduction on the character of Persicus).
(2) What is the verb of MENTIO? It seems simplest to take it to be BILEM TIBI
CONTRAHAT; Juvenal does not want the thought of defaulting debtors (cf. 48)
to ruffle Persicus. Then NON rather than ne (cf. on 3.54) will be due to the coalescence of non ulla into nulla (cf. Hor. Epist. 1.18.72, Tib. 2.1.9, Ovid Met. 15.157,
though all these instances are before vowels).
1869 TACITO Cf. 6.2068; MULTICIA cf. 2.66 and 76.
UMIDA sc. with her female secretion, cf. 9.4; Suet. Nero 28.2 libidinatum inceste ac maculis vestis proditum is not exactly comparable.
SUSPECTIS 10.208; the word may suggest jealousy (Hor. Odes 1.17.25).
REFERENS goes with REVERTI; a comma should be placed after UXOR.
VEXATAS COMAS In a quarrel, Prop. 4.5.31.
CALENTEM Suet. Aug. 69.1; Theocr. 2.140.
190 EXUE Cf. Mart. 10.30.3 etc.; this is varied by PONE in the figure syno
nymia or disiunctio (Lausberg pp. 332, 368).
192 PERIT is lost or wasted cf. 1.18; DOMUM i.e. domesticas curas.
193 Cf. on 52. Juvenal must distance himself from the vulgar mob |[513] and
reject the values of the extravagant if he is going to criticise them. The Megalesia
(6.69), in honour of the M (for IDAEUM cf. 3.137), were on 4 and
10 April, and circus games were held on the latter day (Ovid Fasti 4.3912); cf.
Hadzsits TAPA 61, 1930, 165, Degrassi Inscr. Italiae 13.2.4356. The adjective MEGALESIACUS is found in the calendar of Filocalus (CIL 12 p. 262 = Inscr. Italiae
13.2.1445); cf. Swanson Glotta 37, 1958, 144 and 140.
SPECTACULA The spectators, or more exactly the seats (6.61, 8.205). MAPPAE depends on SOLLEMNE and refers to the starting signal for the race, which
was given by the presiding magistrate dropping his mappa (Thes. s.v. 371.7), mappam mittere (Mart. 12.29.9). Cf. RSV 3.512, Balsdon1 317, RE mappa 1415.27, SG 2.39
= 2.48, Harris plate 77, Vigneron 1.198.
194 TRIUMPHO i.e. triumphanti; cf. Livy 28.9.15 uno equo per urbem verum
triumphum vehi (i.e. one of the consuls). On the praetors pomp when presiding
at the games cf. 10.36 sqq.; for the praetor cf. on 8.194.
PRAEDA PRAETOR This pun also at Cic. 2 Verr. 1.131, 2.78, 3.204, 5.54 and
63 (Diomedes GLK 1.446 seems to quote another instance, which however is not
accepted by Schoell as part of his frag. B 1); also Prop. 2.16.12.
PRAEDA CABALLORUM the prey of the horses; i.e. he spends all his money
in paying the factiones, with which he had to make a contract to provide horses
and drivers, and rewarding the winners. For the expenses cf. Mart. 10.41, 4.67; Dio
Cass. 60.27.2; RE suppl. 7.1653 and 1659; RSV 3.488 and 5201; SG 2.334 and 10 =
2.402 and 11.
CABALLORUM The vulgar word for horse, used contemptuously as at 3.118

SATIRE eleven453

(cf. Mart. 5.25.9); it punctures his pomp.

SEDET Cf. Tac. Ann. 11.11.2, 14.20.3.
PACE Cf. HS 65, Hofmann p. 131.
1957 The Romans were proud of the immense population of the city (plebem
innumeram Amm. Marc. 14.6.26), and might be offended at the statement that
the Circus could hold it all, because this might seem to limit the unlimited. Estimates of the population of Rome vary widely and lack secure basis (cf. Hermansen
Historia 27, 1978, 129 sqq. (esp. 1668), Hopkins 96, Packer JRS 57, 1967, 82 and
Mem. Am. Acad. Rome 31, 1971, 789, Salmon 11, P. LavedanJ. Hugueney Histoire
de lUrbanisme, Antiquit2 (1966) 319). The Circus, after an enlargement begun
by Domitian and completed by Trajan, held about 250,000 spectators (Pliny NH
36.102 gives this figure after the Neronian restoration), which on many estimates
would be about a quarter of the population of Rome; in the fourth |[514] century
it had 385,000 loca (which probably does not mean individual seats) according to
the Notitia. See further SG 2.1920 = 2.22, RSV 3.506, Carcopino 21516, Platner
Ashby Circus Maximus.
197 CIRCUS i.e. Maximus; HODIE 10 April (cf. VERNUM 203); CAPIT holds
cf. 171. Few stayed away, Suet. Aug. 43; cf. Ovid AA 1.136 capax populi circus,
Sen. Dial. 4.7.5, Dio Cass. 68.7.2 (of the Trajanic restoration).
FRAGOR See on 8.59 and cf. Sen. Ep. 83.7, Rutil. Nam. 1.201; for the wording
cf. Lucan 6.193.
198 The success (Thes. s.v. 1018.53) of the green tunic (worn by one of the drivers). Of the four circus factiones (RE and DE s.v., RSV 3.517, SG 2.27 = 2.32) which
competed against each other, the red (7.114) and white worked as junior partners
of the blue and green (Cameron2 45 sqq.). The Greens (prasina) tended to be predominant in the early empire (cf. Mart. 11.33, SG 2.28 = 2.34, Balsdon1 321); it has
been argued that they were usually supported by the plebs while the upper classes
favoured the Blues, but the evidence is thin (Cameron2 967).
VIRIDIS Cf. virens Sidon. Apoll. Carm. 23.324, Lydus De Mens. 4.25 and cf. on
5.143. COLLIGO Cf. 13.191.
PANNI A technical term (Maricq Bull. Acad. Belge 36, 1950, 403 n. 2; add Caper
GLK 7.104.12).
199 If the Greens were beaten. The partisanship of the circus spectators is notorious (Cassiod. Var. 3.51.11 transit prasinus, pars populi maeret; praecedit venetus,
et potius turba civitatis affligitur); defeat is like a national disaster (ibid. 13,
Amm. Marc. 28.4.30), an idea which links with the triumph of 194.
Sen. Dial. 11.15.5 non solum maestum sed etiam attonitum.
200 PULVERE The dust which blew in the Romans faces is prominent in all
accounts of the battle; here Juvenal is also thinking of the dust of the race-track
(8.61, 10.37).
202 SPONSIO betting; cf. 6.O.27, Balsdon1 321, Carcopino 2501.

454A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ADSEDISSE PUELLAE In the circus men and women sat together; cf. on
6.601, SG 1.2456 = 1.28890 (Ovid Am. 3.2, AA 1.135 sqq., Tristia 2.2834), T.
Bollinger Theatralis Licentia (1969) 19. Dio Cass. 69.8.2 implies that Hadrian had
altered this by A.D. 119, but if this were right it would indicate an inconceivably
early date for this poem.
CULTAE Cf. on 6.352 and Tertull. De Spect. 25.2.
203 Literary men like to make a parade of staying away from games and festivals (Balsdon1 74; see especially Pliny Ep. 9.6). Sun-bathing (apricatio) was
thought good for the health, especially of old men, as Juvenal now was; Pers. 4.18
assiduo curata cuticula sole |[515] (and ibid. 33), 5.179 aprici senes; Mart. 10.12.7 totos
avida cute combibe soles.
CONTRACTA Wrinkled; conversely this can be regarded as the result of loosening of the skin, 6.145. Cf. pellis 10.192.
CUTCULA (cf. Pers. 4.18 just quoted). Similar formations, however they are
to be explained, are cancula, clavcula, cratcula, tegetcula; see Leumann 3067
(cf. 341).
204 TOGAM This was required dress at all spectacles (SG 2.8 = 2.9, Blmner1
213, Marquardt 553), but it was unpopular, being hot and heavy and expensive to
keep clean (cf. 3.17181).
SALVA FRONTE i.e. salvo pudore; on 8.189, 13.242.
IN BALNEA This would be done as a matter of course before the dinner to
which Persicus is invited (cf. 6.419). The usual hour for the bath would not be
before the eighth (the public thermae would not open until then), but Martial
10.48.14 mentions hot water in private baths at the sixth hour; cf. Vitruv. 5.10.1
maxime tempus lavandi a meridiano ad vesperum est constitutum and Carcopino
257. Here Juvenal urges his friend to bathe a whole hour before noon, whereas
Martials guest causes consternation by arriving at the fifth hour (8.67), and at
SHA 11.3.10 tribuni medio die lavant is a sign of a demoralised army. Cf. Marquardt 270 n. 4, Blmner1 383; this must be distinguished from the routine of some
who preferred to take a bath before the prandium (Marquardt 270 n. 1; evidently
implied also Suet. Dom. 21).
206 QUINQUE DIEBUS Simply a vague phrase roughly equivalent to for
a whole week, Hor. Serm. 1.3.16, Epist. 1.7.1; Gaius 2.11.8 post tres aut quinque
pluresve dies; Herodas 5.60 with HeadlamKnox.
207 Hom. Il. 13.636 , ; Demo
critus fr. 232, 2 p. 191 DielsKranz, also falsely attributed to Epictetus (fr. 33 Schenkl); Dio Chrys. 6.48; [Quintil.] Decl. 306 p. 203.14.
208 Cf. Otto rarus 2, Nachtrge 63, 286.
VOLUPTATES COMMENDAT Makes pleasure more pleasant; cf. Pliny Ep.
5.11.3.

[516]

Satire Twelve

The structure of this poem is as follows:

I a (116) a sacrifice in thanksgiving for the safe return of a friend
b (1782) who has undergone a storm at sea but escaped;
c (8392) hence the sacrifice
II (93130) which is not due to legacy-hunting.
Ic thus rounds off the first part of the poem with a return to the first theme, a
familiar function of the so-called ring-composition (see index s.v.) emphasised
by the recurrence of festus 2 and 92. It is therefore plain that a new paragraph
should begin at 93.
The first part of the poem belongs to the class of , welcome to
a traveller who has arrived at the place where the speaker is (F. Cairns, Generic
Composition (1972) 18 sqq., to whom the following analysis is deeply indebted);
one may compare Catullus 9, Horace Odes 1.36 (describing a party, given apparently by Horace, in honour of Numidas return, preceded by a sacrifice ex voto;
parallels from this poem are quoted in the notes), Ovid Amores 2.11.43 sqq. Traditional elements are the announcement of arrival (15), expressions of affection
(16 and 29, implied also in 1 and 94), the claim of divine assistance (626, cf. Hor.
3), insistence on the safety of the friend (16, cf. Catull. 6, Hor. 4), his dangers and
sufferings (1582; cf. Ovid 4952, with the humour in 53 omnia pro veris credam,
sint ficta licebit), his achievements (3751), the vows undertaken for him (216, cf.
Hor. 13, Ovid 46) and the consequent sacrifices (216 and 8392). The friend
in Juvenals poem is Catullus, but an element of irony in Juvenals attitude to
him is clearly apparent (see on 234, 33, 47, 627; since this irony persists after
37 sqq., we cannot suppose that Catullus is finally cured of greed). The poetic
storm has much of mock-epic about it, intended to hint at exaggeration (cf. 82
and Ovid quoted above), and this is particularly plain when after the elevation of
303 we find Catullus compared to a eunuch beaver |[517] scampering away from
its hunters. His stock-in-trade consists of luxury-wares (3849), and the criticism
implied of the fanatical (489) money-grubbing involved in the importation of
455

456A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

such extravagant superfluities perhaps helps to hold the poem together when
it turns to another form of money-grubbing, legacy-hunting. The addressee of
the first line, Corvinus, reappears here, and in view of the frequent comparison
of legacy-hunters to carrion-eating birds (corvi Hor. Serm. 2.5.56, Petron. 116) it
seems likely that Juvenal has chosen a significant name to represent his poem as
addressed to one who was himself a legacy-hunter and is quick to suspect a rival
in that line (93; this suggestion was made in an unpublished paper by Mr A. D.
Pryor), just as he chose the name Persicus for a similar hinted characterisation in
Satire 11 (see introduction there). Both the merchant and the legacy-hunter cover
the temples with ex voto objects (278, 1001, the former passage very clearly ironical); to gain his wealth one has to pass through exaggerated poetic storms, the
other has to vow exaggerated sacrifices (10114) like those of poetry (11820, 127).
They are opposite sides of the same coin. Intertwined with this merchant-captator
analogy is a contrast between Juvenal and the captator in respect of their attitude
to their friends. Juvenals friendship may have irony mingled with it, but at least
it is not mercenary. The promised (101) sacrifice of the captator is exaggerated and
insincere, unlike that of Juvenal (2); if Juvenal were rich he would offer a bull, the
captator offers a hecatomb and if he could would offer an elephant, a foreign beast
transferred to Italy (1045) whereas the Clitumnus bulls are native. The final curse
on the captator (130) is that he be deprived of amicitia. Thus Juvenal appears in
very much the same light as in Eleven, the only other poem in which the author
himself is at all prominent.
A remarkable feature is the length of the passage about elephants (10210),
which, like 627 and similar dilations in Thirteen, must be intended to convey
deliberate exaggeration (the laboured excuses of the legacy-hunters; contrast the
straightforward 1114); but it undoubtedly strays into irrelevance and goes on for
too long. In general it must be said that, though the poem possesses more unity
than has usually been recognised, it has wrapped up its point too much to impress
it on the reader with any vigour. The more relaxed manner of writing which |[518]
Juvenal announced at the beginning of this book here degenerates into slackness,
and this is not only his shortest complete poem, but also his weakest.
1 Hor. Odes 4.11.17 the Ides of April, the birthday of Maecenas, is iure sollemnis
mihi sanctiorque / paene natali proprio; ibid. 6 ara avet immolato / spargier
agno; one would not sacrifice on ones own birthday (RE 1143;
Wissowa 177 n. 4; Wilhelm Schmidt, Geburtstag im Altertum (1908) 26 and 30).
For the connection of festus and natalis cf. 11.834.
2 PROMISSA i.e. vota, when Catullus set out; cf. 15, 101, Hor. Epist. 1.3.36 pascitur in vestrum reditum votiva iuvenca, Stat. Th. 5.175 (the men of Lemnos on
their return) promissasque trahunt pecudes; D. Wachsmuth
(1967) 131.

SATIRE twelve457

CAESPES An altar (or three altars) of turf (cf. 85, Thes. s.v. 111.26, RSV 3.161,
Wagenvoort 28); burnt offerings were not placed on altars inside Roman temples
(RSV 3.163, RE Altar 16501 and immolatio 1127). The three deities named, Juno,
Minerva (who uses the aegis to scatter her enemies), Jupiter, are the Capitoline triad, cf. Bmer on Ovid Fasti 6.37 (Nash 1 p. 532 fig. 657 reproduces a coin showing
their statues side by side in their cellae). Iuno Regina is a cult title in this connection, brought to Rome from Etruscan Veii (Livy 3.17.3 is anachronistic; see Ogilvies note), and Reginae might be better printed thus; see RE Juno 1119 and Regina
(b), Kl. Pauly s.v. Regina, ML Iuno 6001, Wissowa 189, Frazer on Ovid Fasti 6.37,
J. B. Carter Epitheta Deorum (ML Suppl. 2, 1902) 4950. For private offerings at
the Capitol cf. 6.478, 10.65 (with ducere as here and 112, and branches decorating
the house as 91). A white victim is usual for Juno (Wissowa 413, Radke 24).
4 VELLUS i.e. a sheep (so Ovid Met. 7.244), as 7.130 rhinoceros = cornu and
12.112 ebur = elephans; cf. on 73. Ovid Tr. 1.10.43 also sacrifices an agna to Minerva.
GORGONE MAURA i.e. aegide (cf. Verg. Aen. 2.616, Prop. 4.9.58, Mart.
6.10.11); for the ablative cf. 8.201. MAURA is here probably merely an ornamental
epithet, cf. 1.22, 8.15.
5 PETULANS The technical term in this connection is petulcus; both words are
derived from petere (cf. Verg. Aen. 9.629 iuvencum (qui) iam cornua petat, Buc.
3.87). The animal is not actually resisting as it is led to sacrifice, since this would be
a bad omen, but simply showing signs of the ferocitas which Juvenal admires in it
(cf. Carcopino 127). It is given plenty of rope so that it may not seem to be dragged
along; cf. RSV 3.180, Wissowa 416, Latte 386.
6 TARPEIO Cf. 6.47, 13.78, Carter (l.c. on 2) 56. |[519]
FRONTEM CORUSCAT This suggests to the scholiast that the victim brandishes his forehead as a weapon; probably rightly, though corusco is used intransitively of lambs butting (Lucr. 2.320).
79 generally resemble Hor. Odes 4.2.53 sqq., also a votum ob reditum with a
vitulus.
QUIPPE is used like or ; cf. HS 510, KS 1.808 and 4.79 as emended by
Housman.
MERO In its proper meaning of unmixed wine, purum vinum Ovid Met. 7.594;
cf. 6.386, RE immolatio 11278, Pease on Verg. Aen. 4.5961 and Cic. De Div. 2.37.
9 Verg. Georg. 3.232 irasci in cornua discit / arboris obnixus trunco, [Ovid] Hal.
23 vitulus sic namque minatur / qui nondum gerit in tenera iam cornua fronte (so
the ms., but it is doubtless corrupt). Galen De Usu Partium 1.3 (p. 4.17 Helmreich)
a calf butts before he has horns.
DUCERE To suck, drink, cf. 6.428 and Thes. s.v. 2150.62.
10 The opposite of res angusta domi 3.165, 6.357.
ADFECTIBUS This word is used in a neutral sense (both likes and dislikes) at
6.214, of affection at 15.150 (cf. 8.161) and often in Silver Latin; the latter is implicit here.

458A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

11 The bull is of course an expensive victim (HeadlamKnox on Herodas 4.16);

MOLE PIGER cf. 4.107.
HISPULLA is a lascivious woman at 6.74; cf. on 2.50.
13 For the famous white oxen of the luxuriant pastures by the Clitumnus in
Umbria, which were choice victims, cf. Verg. Georg. 2.1468 with Servius, Prop.
2.19.256, Nissen 2.4012, RE Clitumnus (1).
1314 The reading of the -mss., which has infected most of the mss. of Servius, is a metrical interpolation; the consensus of PA, the best mss. of Servius, and
(which explains ministro by the dative sacerdoti) is quite certainly the prior reading, confirmed by the usage of Juvenal, who does not elsewhere have the construction with a after the gerundive. This reading however requires emendation, as rt
t is metrically faulty. Housman also objected to sanguis iret, as this combination
elsewhere means blood would flow; but this objection is not conclusive, since
such phrases quite often have two meanings in different contexts (see on 1.42). Of
the three emendations suggested by Housman I prefer <cui fo>ret et grandi cervix,
because in the sentence A fat bull would be dragged along, and not one reared in a
neighbouring meadow, but it seems to me most natural that the subject should
continue to be taurus, one from the Clitumnus. For the position of the relative cf.
1.111, 2.412, 7.131, 11.173, 15.173.
The emphasis is on GRANDI; a small attendant would not be able |[520] to
reach up to kill such a tall victim. For the height of the Clitumnus bulls cf. Colum.
3.8.3, Sil. It. 6.647 and 8.450.
OSTENDENS PASCUA Cf. 40; LAETA luxuriant cf. Thes. s.v. 884.12.
15 OB A word not found elsewhere in Juvenal and used here because of the
underlying religious formula, cf. Pearce CQ2 20, 1970, 31113 (Statius also has ob
only at Th. 3.207).
17 sqq. Julian Dig. 14.2 (De Lege Rhodia de Iactu).6 navis adversa tempestate
depressa ictu fulminis deustis armamentis et arbore et antemna This favours
s ictum.
ET i.e. etiam. NUBE UNA an unbroken cloud.
19 SUBITUS As usual in poetic storms; Tarrant on Sen. Ag. 470.
20 ILLO i.e. fulmine, lightning which hits.
ATTONITUS terrified (see on 4.77), with a glance at the derivation from tonitru (quo edito quidam vivi stupent et in totum sibi excidunt, quos vocamus
attonitos Sen. NQ 2.27.3).
It does not make sense to say Lightning hit the mast when everyone thought
that he had been struck by it, any more than, with another punctuation, When
everyone thought himself struck by lightning, everything happens like this in poetic storms. The answer to this difficulty, felt by Madvig 537, was found by A. L.
Doellen, Beitrge zur Kritik und Erklrung der Satiren des Juvenalis (1846) 185,
who punctuates thus: ignis. cum ardentibus (omnia tempestas), genus e.a.

SATIRE twelve459

discriminis! audi et miserere iterum. For ECCE ALIUD (here referring forward to
33 sqq.) cf. Thes. ecce 29.57 with the remark fere dest verbum (though not at 5.67),
and Tarrant on Sen. Ag. 528.
234 Juvenal hints that Catullus is exaggerating in his account. For poetic
storms (1.9) see Austins commentary on Aen. 1, p. 51, M. P. O. Morford The Poet
Lucan (1967) 20 sqq., Friedrich l.c. on 10.180; there is a noteworthy one in Petron.
114. Cf. mimicum naufragium Sen. Dial. 4.2.5, and Dion. Hal. Ars Rhet. 10.17.
25 CETERA has the same reference as ALIUD, i.e. besides what has already
been mentioned. A comma after PARS would clarify the thought.
27 VOTIVA tabula Hor. Odes 1.5.13, where see NisbetHubbard. For such votive pictures cf. Tib. 1.3.28, Cic. De Nat. Deor. 3.89 with Pease (for the confusion in
his note cf. on 14.302), SG 2.273 = 3.52.
28 Isis is the goddess who protects at sea (ML Isis 474, Wissowa 354, Vidman1
86, Malaise1 180, 186, 279, Pucci Annali Scuola Norm. Sup. Pisa3 6, 1976, 1177, J.
G. Griffiths ed. Apul. Met. 11 p. 31), as she does in danger generally (Tib. l.c., ML
l.c. 539). Ships were named after her (Lucian Navig. 5, Casson1 359 and index 440,
Roug 327, Griffiths p. 262), she had cult officials called nauarchos (Vidman1 76),
|[521] and one of her festivals was the or Isidis navigium; the voyage in
which she went in search of the dismembered Osiris is important in her legend.
29 SIMILIS This word must be corrupt (Courtney1 42). Juvenal cannot say that
the lot of Catullus was like any other, for he has not mentioned any other which
it can be like, but only alluded indirectly to one in genus ecce aliud discriminis! The
word therefore lacks a reference, and was probably originally at home in 78 (q.v.);
when it was displaced from there it became a marginal correction and drifted a
column away (cf. Courtney2 49 n. 2). The word which it ousted from this line was
probably qualis, used as often to quote a specific instance (cf. 2.29); Catullus is a
specimen of the type of disaster indicated in 258 and described in 30 sqq.
302 Commas at the end of 30 and 31 would make it plainer that ET connects
PLENUS FLUCTU with ARBORIS INCERTAE, an adjective combined with a
genitive of quality (see on 11.96); 31 explains why the mast (ARBOR) was tottering.
For arbor in this sense cf. Julian quoted on 17, Paul. Sent. 2.7.2 (3) nave vel arbore
vi tempestatis amissa, Petron. 114.13, Pliny Ep. 9.26.4 etc. The word cannot mean
ship; Ovid Her. 12.8 is a special case.
EVERTENTIBUS Cf. Petron. 114.9, Lucan 5.647 in similar storms.
MEDIUS Wilson probably wrongly takes plenus medius to mean half-full; see
on 3.219.
PRUDENTIA RECTORIS approaches the epic-type periphrases discussed on
4.39.
33 DECIDERE compromise, compound with, a common commercial term
of bankrupts, probably used here to suggest that Catullus is a money-grubber; cf.
Thes. s.v. 167.13. The ablative indicates the compensation; he compromised with

460A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

the winds at the cost of jettisoning his cargo.

IACTU Cf. the Digest title quoted on 17, Paul. Sent. 2.7, Thes. s.v. 69.21. For
jettisoning of cargo cf. Roug 397 sqq. (esp. 406).
346 For this fable about the beaver cf. Phaedr. app. 28, RE Biber 400.58,
Dioscorides 2.24. This animal was hunted for the medicinal castoreum (Pliny NH
8.109), which in fact did not come from the testicles; Aelian NA 6.34 explains that
the fable arose because the beaver can retract its testicles to make them invisible.
TESTICULI ADEO The only hiatus at this point of the verse in Juvenal, excused by the strong pause (cf. p. 39). For ADEO see on 11.131.
INTELLEGIT Pliny NH 8.9 mirum in plerisque animalium scire quare petantur
(followed by a similar adeo).
37 Catullus was presumably a merchant, and Juvenals opinion of merchants
can be seen from 14.265 sqq. |[522]
389 VESTEM Collective singular.
PURPUREAM See on 1.27. MAECENAS had become proverbial (see on 1.66)
for luxury and effeminacy; see especially Sen. Ep. 114 and cf. Mart. 10.73.4 togae
qua uti vellet Maecenas.
40 i.e. alias vestes, quarum pecus ipsum (the very sheep that yield the wool) infectum est graminis natura; the grass itself is the infector. For pecus ipsum cf. Mart.
14.133 (lacernae Baeticae) non est lana mihi mendax nec mutor aheno. / sic placeant
Tyriae; me mea tinxit ovis. The reference is to sheep reared on the banks of the
Baetis (Guadalquivir); Pliny NH 8.191 oves quas nativas appellat aliquot modis
Hispania, velleris praecipuas habet rutili Baetica, Mart. 9.61.34 Baetin
vellera nativo pallent ubi flava metallo / et linit Hesperium brattea viva pecus,
1.96.58, Nonius 549 (pullus), Tertull. De Pallio 3.6 (5) ovibus quis Baetica
cluet natura colorante; Mart. 8.28.6 (to a toga) Baetis in Hesperia te quoque lavit
ove?, 12.98.2 Baetis aurea qui nitidis vellera tingis aquis. PECUS VESTIUM is
certainly a remarkable phrase, though it may be meant as deliberately bombastic;
Helmbolds decus (CP 51, 1956, 20) deserves consideration, as does Rupertis ipsa,
which gives a good contrast with sed et aer.
43 ARGENTUM Silver plate, as 49; see on 1.76.
MITTERE Cf. Hor. Odes 3.24.50.
44 The scholiast takes this to mean made by Parthenius, who was, he asserts,
a caelator. He is however unknown from any other source, and this context requires someone well-known. So I follow Friedlaender in understanding made for
Parthenius the well-known chamberlain of Domitian. To have belonged to famous people added to the value of works of art, cf. 47, 6.1567, Mart. 8.6.3 argenti
stemmata (the same word Stat. Silv. 4.6.88), Hor. Serm. 2.3.21 (but not 1.3.91), Sen.
Dial. 9.1.7, SHA 24.30.19 (Zenobia used Cleopatras cups); SG 2.331 = 3.113, 4.319
(not in ed. 10).
URNAE About three gallons; see on 6.426.

SATIRE twelve461

45 From the sublime to the ridiculous. Pholus (see ML s.v.) was a centaur who
used a huge crater for a weapon in the fight against the Lapiths (Stat. Th. 2.563 with
Mulders note, Val. Fl. 1.337), having on the same occasion entertained Hercules
with an equally large one (Stesich. fr. 4 Page ap. Athen. 11.499a, Theocr. 7.149, Lucian Symp. 14; for representations in art cf. Schauenburg Ath. Mitt. 86, 1971, 43).
For the canard about drunken women cf. 2.86, 6.315, 9.11617.
46 BASCAUDAS A British object (Mart. 14.99), and probably a British name
(basket, Welsh basgawd). In the paired gifts of Martial this is the rich mans; its
exact nature remains uncertain (the context in Martial does not, as some editors
say, establish it to be a kind of cup). Cf. Hilgers 120. |[523]
ESCARIA Paulus Dig. 33.10.3.3 vitrea escaria et potoria, which may be of great
value; Ulpian ibid. 34.2.19.12 escarium argentum comprises quod ad epulandum in
ministerio habuit, but probably not cooking vessels.
MULTUM CAELATI For the asyndeton in enumeration cf. on 15.135. Cf. Cic.
2 Verr. 4.48 quicquam caelati; sc. argenti, cf. 49, 9.145.
47 QUO See on 2.95.
CALLIDUS EMPTOR OLYNTHI Philip captured Olynthus in 348 B.C. by bribing two leading citizens, Lasthenes and Euthycrates; he was famed for his fondness for bribery (Sen. Ep. 94.62, Hor. Odes 3.16.1315 etc.) and his drunken bouts
(Pliny NH 33.50 etc.). The point of the periphrasis (see p. 34) here is to reduce
everything to the mercantile level and link luxuries with corruption.
After 47 a colon, not a full stop, should be placed; SED contrasts ILLE 43 with
QUIS NUNC ALIUS. The epanalepsis of QUIS comes out best if the line is punctuated sed quis nunc alius qua mundi parte, quis audet with Heinrich.
48 AUDET makes the compliment back-handed; it requires an act of resolution for Catullus to abandon wealth in order to retain life (CAPUT; Thes. s.v.
416.31). Aristippus did not find it so hard; fr. 69 Mannebach.
501 were rightly deleted by Britannicus and by Bentley on Hor. AP 337; they
are an attempt to supply an answer to the question of 489, cf. on 7.181. Qui
dam is a favourite word in the interpolations in Juvenal (3.281, 15.107), which here
produces a ridiculous anticlimax. Almost every one in the world, says Juvenal
in 489, loves riches better than life itself Certain persons, adds somebody in
501, live to make fortunes instead of making fortunes to live. Certain persons,
that is, are so avaricious that they evince less avarice than the author of 489 imputes to mankind in general Housman xxxiv. PROPTER VITAM has been taken
from 8.84; Bentley also objected to FACIUNT PATRIMONIA, but for the former
word cf. Thes. s.v. 94.32 (14.326 is not exactly comparable), and the latter need not
necessarily mean inherited property (7.113, 10.13).
52 Not only the above-mentioned luxuries, but also the utilensia (food and
stores) are jettisoned; utilia Sall Iug. 86.1, Or. Cottae 6 and probably Tac. Agr. 28.2.
SED LEVANT i.e. ne damna (cf. 35) quidem navem levant.

462A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

54 RECCIDIT Catullus, presumably.

MALUM SUBMITTERET This suggests the operation, normal in an ancient
ship, of lowering the mast (Torr 94; illustrated in Bossert and Zschietschmann
224); then the application here to cutting it down is ironical.
ANGUSTUM is surely neuter nominative (so Haeckermann), meaning |[524]
angustiae; those who take it as accus. masc. have never proved that se explicare
angustum could mean extricate oneself from straits.
55 Cf. 15.95 bellorumque ultima; Lucan 8.665, 10.467.
57 I NUNC ET COMMITTE Cf. 6.306, 10.310 and on 10.166; in similar contexts Prop. 3.7.29, Petron. 115.14, CEL 950.3 = CIL 4.5296 i nunc <et> ventis tua
gaudia, pupula, crede.
579 Sen. Med. 3018 audax nimium qui / animam levibus credidit auris /
dubioque secans aequora cursu / potuit tenui fidere ligno / inter vitae mortisque
vias / nimium gracili limite ducto. For the commonplace cf. also 14.289, Morford
(on 234) 27 n. 4, Casson1 204 n. 16; especially Diog. Laert. 1.103 (Anacharsis)
,
. For DIGITIS TAEDAE (finger-breadths of pine-wood) cf.
Dio Chrys. 64.10 (perhaps from
Euripides).
60 MOX Cf. 20; having entrusted yourself to a ship.
RETICULIS ET PANE Baskets of bread, cf. Hor. Serm. 1.1.47 reticulum panis. Panis nauticus is ship-biscuit, Pliny NH 22.138, cf. panes for a voyage in Cic.
Ad Att. 10.15.4, panarium et lagunculam Pliny Ep. 1.6.3,
(= equipment consisting of bread and bottle) Polemon AP 11.38 (GowPage GP
3350), with which cf. artolagyni associated with simple living, Cic. Ad Fam. 9.20.2
(see Shackleton Bailey vol. 2 p. 345). VENTRE LAGONAE (round-bellied bottle,
cf. 4.107 and on 4.39) cf. Symphos. Aenigm. 81, Colum. 10.3837 (of a vegetable
gourd), Hilgers 61 sqq.
61 Griffith1 567, 3 385 defends aspice; find out where the lifesaving equipment
is stored, inspect the axe with which you can hack away a bit of timber to hang on
to. But then reticulis lagonae have to mean survival rations, and that is very
implausible. ACCIPE (Britannicus) = take on board.
SUMENDAS See on 14.268.
627 are very verbose; Juvenal piles on the heavy irony.
PLANUM is proleptic.
624 i.e. postquam vectoris prospera tempora fatumque valentiora fuerunt
quam eurus et pelagus, cf. 6.571, 16.4, Manil. 3.51059 (Housman). There is a hint
of the concept ante fatum mori, for which see on 14.249.
EURO But Austri 69 (cf. 14.268); neither really means more than stormy wind,
cf. Housman on Lucan 7.871.
65 ET connects HILARES with LANIFICAE, cf. 74.

SATIRE twelve463

DUCUNT i.e. deducunt, in spinning; Blmner2 1.127 n. 1.

STAMINIS Cf. 3.27, 10.252, 14.249; white wool is a symbol of good fortune
(Sen. Apoc. 4, Mart. 6.58.7, Stat. Silv. 1.2.24, 1.4.123), as |[525] black of bad (Ovid Tr.
4.1.64, 5.13.24 etc.), cf. Radke 22, RAC Farbe 392. CEL 2296.15 is obscure.
66 MULTUM cf. 10.197; but multo 13.196. In both cases of the accusative an ablative singular is present, and at 10.197, though not here, another ablative would be
confusing; cf. Diggle CQ2 17, 1967, 141. But in any case the accusative had become
common in Juvenals day; cf. KS 1.402, HS 136, Thes. s.v. 1618.19, Bell 166.
68 VESTIBUS In default of sails (22), cf. Tac. Ann. 2.24.3. With CUCURRIT
the subject is PRORA in the sense of ship, by synecdoche, but SUO refers to
PRORA in its proper sense; for a similar shift cf. on 3.261. VELO is the small foresail called artemo (Casson1 240, Torr 88).
70 CUM SOLE Cf. 1819, Verg. Aen. 1.143 solemque reducit (a poetic storm).
GRATUS APEX The lofty mountain which pleased Ascanius and was preferred by him as his residence to Lavinium; SEDES is predicative, ATQUE connects GRATUS and PRAELATA, and, as often happens, the predicate has influenced the gender where strict logic would require praelatus (see index attraction).
The usual form is Lavinium; LAVINUM is presupposed by the adjective Lvinus (Aen. 1.2, where it is supported by the oldest testimonies CIL 2.4967.31, Prop.
2.34.64). The genitive Lvini is found at Verg. Aen. 1.258 and 270, 6.84; Tib. 2.5.49.
Juvenal here has in mind one of these passages, Aen. 1.26771 (cf. Livy 1.3.3).
724 CANDIDA NOMEN i.e. Alba; here he has in mind Aen. 8.438, again alluded to at 6.177. Juvenal uses the less dignified word scrofa for ironical reasons; all
the other sources refer to the animal as sus. Similarly SUMEN (meaning feta sus;
cf. on 4) is far from dignified. The periphrasis of the name Alba is mock-epic, but
also conveys the associations of sailors attaining a happy home under the guidance of destiny (like these sailors, 62 sqq.).
NUNQUAM VISIS i.e. invisitatis; it was a mirabile monstrum (Aen. 8.81; monstrum also Cassius Hemina fr. 11). Varro RR 2.4.1718 states with reference to this
sow that it is a portent to find more piglets than teats; so Juvenal exaggerates Vergils 30 piglets into 30 teats. The corruption miserabile is due to 67, though the
confusion is in any case common.
ET connects the apposition SUMEN with the adjective CLARA, cf. 65. Knoche,
putting a comma after SUMEN, makes it connect CANDIDA and CLARA, but
this is not so good in sense.
75 The reference is to the portus Augusti constructed by Claudius (Suet. 20)
two miles north of Ostia, where continual trouble was caused by silting (Dio Cass.
60.11, Pliny NH 16.202 and 36.70, Sil. It. 4.2959); see CIL 14 p. 6, Lehmann-Hartleben Die antiken Hafenanlagen |[526] (Klio Beiheft 14, 1923) 18598, Meiggs 54 sqq.,
149 sqq., 5912, plates 45, O. Testaguzza Archaeology 17, 1964, 173 and Portus
(1971) 121, Casson JRS 55, 1965, 33. For the lighthouse cf. Stuhlfauth Rm. Mitt. 53,

464A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

1938, 139; Picard BCH 76, 1952, 88 (depicted on the Peutinger Table, Balsdon1 plate
1b, cf. p. 349). It is masculine in Suet. l.c.; see Shackleton Bailey on 2.1.30.
MOLES Of the harbour-works in general; Suet. and Pliny l.c. apply it to particular parts.
POSITAS MOLES Strict logic would demand either ante for PER or the
omission of INCLUSA.
RURSUM Here, as at 10.150 (which favours s rursus), Juvenal seems to use
this word in its root sense, now obsolete, backwards, reversum. The side piers
(BRACCHIA; so Suet.) ran out to sea and then bent inwards again, with a breakwater or artificial island in front of them thus:

78 NON SIC ut hunc manu factum.

IGITUR As Housman pointed out, this has no meaning. He suggested that it
is a stopgap consequent on the omission of similis between sic and mir-; and this
similis is in my opinion the very word which has now migrated to 29 (q.v.).
79 SED (see index conjunctions) resumes after the digression about harbours.
MAGISTER Juvenal probably uses this word in a non-technical sense (cf. 4.45)
of the rector (cf. Roug 234) of 33, though technically they would be distinct (Casson1 317).
80 Traianus portum Augusti restauravit in melius et interius tutiorem, nominis
sui, fecit on 76; cf. Meiggs ll.cc. and 488, Strack 1.212.
BAIANAE CUMBAE The boats of Baiae were mere skiffs which were rowed in
the Lucrine Lake (Balsdon1 221, SG 1.338 = 1.409, Sen. Ep. 51.4 and 12). But Trajans
inner basin at Ostia was as smooth as a pond (stagna), and even light boats would
be safe; cf. Mart. 3.20.20 Lucrino nauculatur in stagna.
81 GAUDENT Eur. Andromeda fr. 131,
a famous line (quoted by Aristotle Rhet. 1.11.1370b, who also adduces, inexactly,
Hom. Od. 14.400, and by Macrob. Sat. 7.2.9, and referred to by Cic. De Fin. 2.105);
cf. also Cic. Ad Fam. 5.12.4, Verg. Aen. 1.203 forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit
(after the poetic storm), Sen. Ep. 78.14 and Herc. Fur. 656; Otto labor (1) and
Nachtrge 40, 107, 239. |[527]
VERTICE RASO Those saved from shipwreck shaved their heads as a vow of
gratitude; RE Haaropfer 2109, Wachsmuth (on 2), 1201 and 303, L. Sommer Das
Haar in Religion (1912) 81 (e.g. Lucian Hermotim. 86).
82 GARRULA The transferred epithet because Juvenal could not use either
grrl (Mart. 12.57.12 naufragus loquax) or grrl.
83 PUERI Slaves, cf. 117 and often.
LINGUIS FAVENTES Cf. Thes. faveo 377.14; the risk of uttering words of ill

SATIRE twelve465

omen is so high that in practice this means be silent (see RSV 3.176, Latte 386 n. 8,
Appel 1879, Novotny REL 27, 1949, 108); like (cf. Soph. OC 13, Aristoph.
Knights 1316 and Thesm. 39).
84 SERTA For the garlanding of temples cf. Stat. Silv. 3.3.23, 4.8.9, Val. Fl.
2.626; Turcan JAC 14, 1971, 108, Bmer on Ovid Met. 8.264. Cf. 91.
DELUBRIS The shrines (cf. Pliny NH 35.108 in Capitolio in Minervae delubro)
of the three deities on the Capitol (2).
FARRA Cf. 6.386; i.e. mola salsa (Serv. Aen. 2.133, Val. Max. 2.5.5, Paul. Fest.
110 and 140). This was placed on the sacrificial knife (Serv. l.c., Lucan 1.610, Sen.
Thy. 688).
85 MOLLES VIRENTEM Cf. caespes 2; FOCOS and GLEBAM are identical,
and -QUE (see index conjunctions) is epexegetic.
ORNATE With vittae etc.; cf. Turcan (on 84) 113, Verg. Buc. 8.64, Prop. 4.6.6.
86 SEQUAR ad Capitolium; the slaves precede him (83).
QUOD PRAESTAT The more important rites (cf. Pollio ap. Cic. Ad Fam.
10.32.4) of 39, contrasted with those of 87 sqq.
87 GRACILES Pliny NH 21.5 corollis inter initia propter gracilitatem nominatis.
CORONAS For the Lares, cf. 9.1378, Hor. Odes 3.23.1516 parvos coronantem
deos, RE corona 1636.63, Turcan (on 84) 11012. The Lares are the appropriate
gods to thank when peregrino / labore fessi venimus larem ad nostrum; cf. RE Lares
814.61 and 815.62, Latte 934, Wissowa 169, RSV 3.128.
88 FRAGILI (crumbling) CERA This may be understood in two ways: (1) the
images were of wax (Blmner2 2.155 n. 6). Some claim that this material would be
unsuitable for Lares standing in front of the fire, but the Lares were not necessarily placed there (RE lararium 794.20, Ogle AJP 32, 1911, 262, Boyce Mem. Am.
Ac. Rome 14, 1937, 105); (2) the images were coated with a wax varnish as used on
marble statues (Vitruv. 7.9.3); Prudentius Contra Symm. 1.2034 seems to understand it thus (saxa inlita ceris / viderat unguentoque lares umescere nigros). Then
FRAGILI will indicate either that it first |[528] crumbles away and then melts with
the fire before it is fit to be applied in the way mentioned (Munro in Mayor) or
that like any varnish it was liable to crack and peel off after a time, especially when
exposed to the heat of the hearth-fire (Wilson). (2) seems preferable.
89 NOSTRUM favouring cf. 9.137, Pers. 5.50, Shackleton Bailey CR2 4, 1954, 9.
PLACABO Hor. Odes 1.36.13 iuvat / placare / custodes Numidae deos,
3.23.34; to avoid envy of the gods and consequent nemesis.
IOVEM Hor. Odes 2.7.17 (on return from exile) obligatam redde Iovi dapem.
PATERNIS Hor. Epist. 2.2.51 paterni / et laris et fundi, Sen. Ag. 6 video paternos,
immo fraternos lares. This can hardly mean just familiaribus; it must indicate that
Juvenal has inherited this house, cf. p. 7.
90 TURA Cf. 9.137; IACTABO (iacit flores Verg. Aen. 5.79) cf. RE .
OMNES The ancients included a number of flowers under the name viola; RE

466A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Veilchen, SG 4.141 (not in ed. 10).

91 EREXIT As if the door itself sprouted branches (of laurel); cf. on 10.65 (also
adduced on 2 above), 6.51 and 79 (where grandi corresponds to LONGOS here),
Turcan (on 84) 119.
92 OPERATUR worships. This is the first case of a present operari in this
sense; Golden Latin would have said operata est (Postgate JP 26, 1899, 319).
MATUTINIS (see on 1.27) FESTA LUCERNIS For lanterns as a sign of rejoicing see RE lucerna 1584, Nilsson 2.376, Mart. 10.6.34, Dio Cass. 74.1.4, Epictet.
1.19.24 and 2.17.378, Tertull. Apol. 46.
93 NEU (a word used also at 14.203) i.e. ac, ne suspecta tibi sint haec, <dico>
Catullum tres habere heredes; the purpose clause is of the type discussed on 15.89.
SUSPECTA Of captatio.
94 TOT Three (16).
945 He is not orbus (99 and on 3.129), cf. 5.137 sqq., Petron. 116.7 quisquis suos
heredes habet.
967 STERILI Paradoxical; normally a sterilis, one without children (cf. 5.140),
would be spoken of as attracting captatores, but here he is sterilis as an unrewarding object for the attentions of such (contrast Mart. 10.18.3 turba tamen non dest
sterilem quae curet amicum) when his wife is fecunda.
TRES 5.141; an important number for a Roman as it would secure the ius trium
liberarum (cf. 9.8790).
EXSPECTARE Wait and see; cf. 6.274, Mart. 4.40.8.
GALLINAM Cf. 113 and see on 13.233. Lucian Iupp. Trag. 15 a |[529] sailor on his
escape from a storm sacrificed only one cock to sixteen gods,
. The contrast with Juvenals own sacrifices (2 sqq.) underlines
his freedom from mercenary motives.
VERUM i.e. immo.
COTURNIX A cheap and disliked bird; Pliny NH 10.69, Blmner1 178.
98 NULLA nullo Helmbold (l.c. on 41).
PATRE here means a father, the opposite of an orbus, cf. 14.45, Pliny Ep. 8.18.3
qui de patre avo proavo quasi de orbo querantur, Mart. 11.55.
CADET Cf. 113.
SENTIRE CALOREM be affected by fever (Thes. calor 181.29).
99 GALLITTA Cf. 113 and on 2.68; LOCUPLES and ORBUS are regularly associated in such contexts (Cic. Parad. 39, Mart. 11.44.1 etc.).
COEPIT LOCUPLES ORBI An extraordinary construction, odder than
Hor. Serm. 1.4.65 Sulgius acer / ambulat et Caprius, rauci male.
PACIUS So PF; Paccius the other mss. (Schulze LEG 204, 424). At 7.12 the mss.
are unanimous with Paccius. Mart. 14.78 habebis / munera quae cuperet Paccius
esse sua.
100 LEGITIME In due form, cf. 10.338.

SATIRE twelve467

LIBELLIS Containing vota, cf. Suet. Cal. 14.2 qui capita sua titulo proposito
devoverent. For the general idea cf. Mart. 12.90, Lucian Dial. Mort. 5 (15).1
.
101 PORTICUS Probably in a temple.
PROMITTANT Cf. 2; HECATOMBEN of bullocks ( ), not of elephants since there are no elephants here.
102 QUATENUS This word is not used elsewhere by Juvenal (nor is hactenus),
and here is due to a reminiscence of Mart. 5.19.15 quatenus hi non sunt. NEC
NEC are partitive after the general NON, and there is a slight anacoluthon; regular
would be either nec sunt hic venales elephanti nec concipitur talis belua Latio or hic
non sunt elephanti, nec venales nec Latio concepti. Ruperti proposed res venales.
1012 are remarkably similar in the rhythms of the second half of the line; cf.
on 6.237. Here the heavy rhythms portray the ponderous animals.
103 SIDERE This word is associated with caelum to mean clime by Pliny Pan.
12.3, 15.3, 29; cf. 6.637 caelum Latinum. For elephants bred in captivity cf. Aelian
NA 2.11, Colum. 3.8.3.
FURVA GENTE Moors, Ethiopians and Indians, cf. 11.1245, 10.150 and 158
(all passages with belua).
105 sqq. ARMENTUM is in apposition, as if elephanti were still the subject;
Ruperti suggested petitum. The possession of elephants was |[530] a privilege reserved for the emperor alone (SG 2.67 = 2.83); they were used to draw triumphal
chariots, to pull heavy loads, for venationes or to perform tricks in the circus.
When Aurelian as a privatus received a present of an elephant he offered it to the
emperor (SHA 26.5.6). The imperial herd was kept at Laurentum (cf. CIL 6.8583
= ILS 1578; Kolendo Klio 51, 1969, 2916), which was near Ardea, the town of the
Rutulians.
PARATUM This glances at a topic of flattery, the obedience of wild animals to
the emperor, illustrated by Mart. Spect. 17.
PRIVATO See on 1.16.
SIQUIDEM Since (6.621) in the old days they obeyed Hannibal, Pyrrhus and
the great Roman generals, they are too proud and distinguished now to obey anyone but the emperor.
TYRIO i.e. Poeno, Carthage being a colony of Tyre.
HANNIBALI Cf. 10.158; the Romans first encountered elephants in the war
with Pyrrhus (cf. 14.162) in 281 B.C., and first used them against Philip in 200 B.C.
(Livy 31.36.4).
10911 109 by its spondaic rhythm (cf. 102) and 110 by its hiatus depict the slow
elephants, whereas 111 with its dactyls shows the haste of the captatores.
10910 For the turres which elephants carried on their backs see Scullard 240;
they would contain at most four fighting men plus the mahout (ibid. 243). They
were probably introduced by Pyrrhus (ibid. 104, 109), but the Carthaginians ev-

468A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

idently did not actually use them (ibid. 242, Toynbee 34), in spite of Sil. It. 9.239
turritae moles ac propugnacula dorso / belua nigranti gestans.
PARS Cf. Verg. Aen. 10.426 Lausus, pars ingens belli, 737 pars belli haud
temnenda Orodes; Sil. It. 8.426, 10.223.
ALIQUAM i.e. a considerable; Pliny NH 8.27 turres armatorum in hostes
ferunt, magnaque ex parte Orientis bella conficiunt.
111 MORA NULLA PER 6.333 (with quominus); note the anaphora with chiasmus (NULLA MORA, MORA NULLA).
NOVIUS and PACUVIUS HISTER are captatores, the latter perhaps also
meant at 2.58.
EBUR Cf. on 4.
114 HORUM i.e. deorum, Larum; the captatores try to win their favour by costly victims. TANTIS is sarcastic.
115 ALTER Pacuvius, cf. 125.
116 MAGNA ET PULCHERRIMA QUAEQUE Housman explains this to
mean adult slaves, and the most handsome of them contrasted with the following
pueri ancillaeque; but pueri (slaves, cf. 83) and ancillae are not necessarily young,
and magna corpora is incredibly vague. Others understand all the biggest and
most handsome slaves; for the combination of quisque with a positive cf. Wlf
flin 187, KS 1.648, |[531] HS 170. But this remains unacceptably harsh; examples
like Tac. Ann. 1.48.3 foedissimum quemque et seditioni promptum (cf. Hist. 1.24.1,
1.88.3; Germ. 29.3) are explained by the precedence of the superlative and Tacitus love of asymmetry. I am inclined to follow Weidners hint and read magna,
ut pulcherrima quaeque, corpora (ut is actually Ps reading); for ut quisque with
the superlative cf. KS 1.645, 2.486, for the plural where ut pulcherrimum quodque
would be more common KS 1.646, Wlfflin 184. Behind this lies the ancient view
that size is essential for beauty (Verdenius Mnem.4 2, 1949, 294, Fordyce and Kroll
on Catull. 86.1 and 4, Ovid Her. 15.33).
117 PUERIS i.e. frontibus puerorum, on the same principle as the comparatio
compendiaria; cf. 10.235.
118 VITTAS As placed on the heads of victims (Latte 385, RSV 3.180 n. 3); cf. the
infula of Iphigenia at Lucr. 1.87.
119 IPHIGENIA (cf. 127) i.e. filia, cf. 5.138, 6.566.
NUBILIS nubendi tempore in ipso Lucr. 1.98; this makes her fate more tragic,
cf. 15.138.
TRAGICAE in the tragedy (cf. poetica 23, Homericus 13.113), i.e. in Euripides
(IA 1587, IT 28 and 783).
FURTIVA PIACULA secret substitution; cf. Ovid Met. 12.34 supposita fertur
mutasse Mycenida cerva.
121 LAUDO bravo, cf. 4.18.
MEUM CIVEM Contrasted with the Greek Agamemnon.

SATIRE twelve469

NEC COMPARO I consider the will much more important, cf. 14.1920.
122 LIBITINAM Cf. Hor. Odes 3.30.7 vitabit Libitinam; undertakers (libitinarii) had their headquarters at her temple, cf. RE s.v., Marquardt 384, Blmner1 489,
Wissowa 245.
AEGER A noun, cf. 3.232.
123 TABULAS The will by which he left his money to people other than Pacuvius; cf. 14.55.
NASSAE A fishermans weel; legacy-hunters are compared to fishermen Hor.
Serm. 2.5.44 and 25, Lucian Timon 22 and often.
124 MERITUM He thinks his recovery due to the captators sacrifice.
SOLI Cf. 2.58; BREVITER summarily cf. 1.68 exiguis tabulis.
1256 SUPERBUS INCEDET Cf. Hor. Epode 15.1718, Sen. Dial. 4.5.5, Thes.
incedo (often implying stately gait) 853.70, Horsfall Glotta 49, 1971, 145.
127 GRANDE OPERAE PRETIUM Cf. 14.281.
IUGULATA MYCENIS The slaughter (see index nouns) of a girl from Mycenae = an Iphigenia = a daughter; cf. 119 and Ovid quoted there. IUGULATA is a
callous word which shows how lightly the father takes the sacrifice. |[532]
128 NESTOR A Nestors lifetime (10.246), internal accusative; for the compression of meaning cf. 14.326, 8.104 Mentore = a work of Mentor, Epigr. Bob. 62
tres vivere cervos, Mart. 11.56.13 ter vivere Nestoris annos. Mart. 10.24.11 post hunc
Nestora nec diem rogabo appears to mean after so long a life. Juvenal turns the
common poetic good wish for the age of Nestor (Stat. Silv. 1.3.110, 4.3.149 etc.) into
a curse; the poem ends with a turn from irony to seriousness, cf. 4.1504.
129 Cf. Mart. 6.86.5 possideat Libycas messes Hermumque Tagumque / et potet
caldam, qui mihi livet, aquam. In both cases the last petition makes the other
advantages worse than useless Duff. Cf. also Theocr. 16.647. For Neros depredations see Tac. Ann. 15.45, Suet. 32.4 (see Bradleys edition p. 185), Dio Cass.
63.1112 etc.
12930 Cic. Lael. 52 quis est qui velit, ut neque diligat quemquam nec ipse
ab ullo diligatur, circumfluere omnibus copiis atque in omnium rerum abundantia
vivere? Cf. Otto mons (1) and (2).
QUEMQUAM ULLO Cf. 8.178 and Cic. l.c., where see SeyffertMller.

[533]

Satire Thirteen

This poem is in many ways a touchstone for the criteria to be followed in the interpretation of Juvenal. It used to be read in an entirely serious spirit, but in recent
years strong emphasis has been laid on the ironical element in it by the following
writers:
Pryor AUMLA 18, 1962, 167.
Anderson CP 57, 1962, 14951; Univ. Calif. Publ. Class. Phil. 19.3, 1964, 18490
(Anger in Juvenal and Seneca).
Fredericks Arethusa 4, 1971, 219.
Edmunds Rh. Mus. 115, 1972, 59.
Morford AJP 94, 1973, 26.
In their central contention I believe these writers to be correct, and my introduction and notes are deeply indebted to them. But in my view the modern urge to
find omnipresent irony in Juvenal has gone much too far; in the case of this poem,
it will be seen that I hold that it starts off ironically but turns serious half-way
through.
The satire is addressed to a man called Calvinus, who probably had historical
existence (cf. pp. 1314). On the surface it is a Consolatio (cf. 120) or
meant to assuage the dolor (12) of Calvinus at the loss of decem sestertia
entrusted by him as a fiduciary deposit to a friend who had refused to restore it.
The Consolatio was a well-developed literary category usually linked to occasions
such as the exile of the addressee or the death of one of his relatives or the like,
but sometimes also to other topics (cf. the list at Cic. Tusc. 3.812), and my notes
show many resemblances to stock themes of the genre. However the only close
parallel which I can adduce to a consolation for pecuniary loss, and that of an
amount which, though not insignificant in itself, is not crippling to Calvinus (68
and 13), is Seneca Ep. 107, which consoles Lucilius on his desertion by his slaves
(note the insistence that the loss is small and such things are not unusual, 12
and 5). It seems clear that here, as so often in his later work, Juvenal is writing
with his tongue |[534] in his cheek; by the (affected) seriousness with which he
470

SATIRE thirteen471

takes Calvinus exaggerated fury and the gravity with which he applies the traditional loci of consolation for disasters to soothing it he wishes us to perceive
that Calvinus reaction should be more temperate and philosophical, especially
in view of his age and experience (1622; this reference gives a not quite secure
terminus post quem for the dating, cf. p. 1). The very exaggeration of Calvinus
fury over pecuniary loss implies that he is no less avaricious than his defrauder
(cf. 12934); the mature Juvenal, who has developed a Democritean side, can see
this and ridicule the anger of Calvinus, whereas the indignant satirist of the earlier
poems would have sympathised with it. One notes throughout the poem a tone
of weary acceptance of contemporary dishonesty, which should be countered by
a measure of impassivity.
The poem falls into two divisions (A) 1173 the crime, the situation which causes dolor (B) 174249 revenge, the attempt to assuage dolor; these two basic themes
play the part of death and grief in a normal Consolatio. The first part has three
subdivisions (i) 170 introduction (ii) 71119 present-day contempt for the gods
(a new paragraph should not be started at 86) (iii) 12073 the consolation proper
(solacia 120).
A i. This part sets the tone and introduces some themes which are later developed. It begins with complete gravity; wrongdoers condemn themselves (cf. 192
235) and are condemned by everyone else. But Calvinus loss is not serious to him,
and such losses are common (cf. 724, 12673), so his resentment ought not to be
as great as it is. He should not need philosophy to tell him this (cf. 1205; these
dismissals of the guidance of philosophy are a deliberate reversal of the tradition
of the Consolatio); age and experience should ensure that he feels no surprise at
what after all is common (ramming home again the content of 810), since nowadays the good, not the bad, is the exception (rari 26 is contrasted with nec rara 8)
in view of the decline of morals (this passage undercuts 56, since it now appears
that it is useless to call on the fides hominum 31, for the vulgus 35 will only laugh).
In the Golden Age, Saturnia regna, primitive man lived an innocent life, before
the present generation of Olympians took over, when there were fewer gods and
they lived in simpler style, when there was no need for |[535] punishments after
death. In that age the power of religion (note the religious vocabulary in 549;
nefas, piandum, sacrae and to some extent venerabile) was such that even lack of
respect towards ones elders was considered a capital crime (this remark can hardly be an unambiguous compliment to the Golden Age, of which Juvenal gives a
not entirely favourable impression in Six init.). We are meant to see a relationship
between this adult linked with the attributes of childhood (33) and the childish
gods (412) envisaged by him. Juvenal is surely hinting that simplices like Calvinus
(35) are wrong to think that human nature was ever free from fault; Calvinus lack
of proportion (1112) had its counterpart in the idealised past to which he looked
back). But now religion has been turned upside down and a good man who ought

472A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

to be revered (sanctus 64) is regarded as a portent (miranti 65 and miris 70 are

contrasted with admirabilis 53); so unnatural (2830) is the present age.
A ii. This section carries on and elaborates the theme of the facility with which
the gods can be despised. The religious theme had been introduced with sacrum
15, continued with tam festa dies 23, and dominated from 31 onwards; now the
emphatically placed sacrilega 72 points to the theme of this part. Money is stronger than the fear of the gods; we now see that the only effect of the multiplication
of deities (42 sqq.) is to give more names by which one can swear falsely; punishment for great sinners in the after-life may have been introduced (4951), but
this Thyestes-like perjurer (845) is not impressed by that. The result is that even
the wronged party begins to disbelieve in the gods (11819), in whom in a normal
Consolatio he would be encouraged to put his trust (cf. Sen. Ep. 107.912).
A iii. The actual consolation is introduced by a few lines insisting that it is not
based on abstract philosophy (see on A i). Its purport is that similar and worse
offences are universal, the offences named being the hiring of assassins, arson, sacrilege, poisoning, parricide; the fundamental importance of religion is underlined
by the placing of sacrilege on a par with the various forms of murder. So Calvinus
calamity is not exceptional. Spiritual corruption is as endemic in the human race
as certain outlandish physical features are in some parts of it. In detail the analogy
seems to be this. What is outlandish gentibus in nostris (171) is normal among the
Pygmies, where everyone (173) is |[536] the same; likewise the whole humanum genus (159) is corrupt: i.e. we have this series, gentes nostrae: Pygmaei etc.: deformity
= ? : humanum genus: criminality. What corresponds to the first item of the series?
It must be the uncorrupted indigenae of 38, though Juvenal has not made this
plain. The inference is that corruption has now become ingrained in men (so that
one need not be surprised at it; stupuit 164 and miratur 162 are contrasted with
stupet 16 and the passages adduced above at the end of A i), but that it is a bizarre
departure from essential human nature.
(If I am right about the unmentioned part played here by the indigenae, one
should note that Juvenal has here succumbed to a difficulty often incurred by irony, namely that it may be applied to an object which one regards seriously, so that
the reader has to be prepared to switch his attitudes to that object according to the
demands of the context. Juvenal in this poem uses the indigenae in an ambivalent
way, first as a symbol of unrealistically high-pitched expectations of human nature and conduct, secondly as a token that human nature is capable of something
better than its present condition.)
B This part also falls into three divisions (i) 17492 revenge inflicted by the victim is useless (ii) 192235 the most effectual revenge is that exacted by conscience
(2379 transition) (iii) 23949 if the victim is not satisfied with this, he can reflect
that anyway the sinner is sure to sin again and meet human punishment at the
hands of others.

SATIRE thirteen473

B i. The wronged party is so anxious for revenge that he is willing to expend his
life to secure it (180). Here again, as with the question of avarice and disrespect for
the gods, we see that a victim who cannot rise above his wrongs becomes a kind of
mirror-image of the wrong-doer; one such wrong-doer was willing to risk divine
wrath and physical punishment (92 sqq.). The philosophers, whose consolations
Juvenal had rejected at 19 sqq. and 120 sqq., here show a better way. This change of
attitude seems to me to make it plain that Juvenal has altered his tone; the irony of
the first half of the poem has given way to seriousness, and I regard it as mistaken
to continue interpreting this second part in ironical terms.
B ii. Those who resolutely committed wrongs despising divine vengeance (92
sqq.) now interpret lightning (223 sqq.) and sickness (229 sqq.) as divine punishments. |[537]
B iii. When a sinner meets human punishment, the faith of the wronged party
in divine justice, which was shaken at 11819, is restored (2489).
One noteworthy feature of the poem is the length of the developments at 3852,
7883, 6470, 16273; in rhetorical terms these are instances of commoratio. The
first of these seems to be clearly ironical; it uses the technique of discrediting by
over-praising. The second emphasises the seeming impotence of the gods and also
links with the first. The third too has a clear function. The fourth by choosing a
grotesque gallery of freaks to illustrate criminality hints that Calvinus should take
his loss in a less tragic spirit; but it would be hard to claim that it is as well worked
out and fitted in as the others (Juvenal has taken the idea from Seneca; see the
notes). However, apart from the individual functions of these developments, the
occurrence of four such within one poem must imply a structural function for
this feature. Surely Juvenal is caricaturing the exaggeration which he implicity
criticises in Calvinus; the victim allows himself to be carried away by resentment,
and the consoler mimics the torrent of his denunciation. It will be noted that all
four passages come before the poem, on my view, turns serious.
Bibliography on Consolation-Literature
R. Kassel, Untersuchungen zur Gr. und Rm. Konsolationsliteratur, 1958.
H. T. Johann, Trauer und Trost, 1968.
J. Esteve-Forriol, Die Trauer- und Trostgedichte in der Rm. Literatur, 1962.
1 EXEMPLO MALO Ablative of accompanying circumstances, setting a bad
example (Thes. 5.2.1334.38); cf. 104 for the construction.
2 Cf. 2379, Sen. Ep. 42.2 nec ulla maior poena nequitiae est quam quod sibi ac
suis displicet. AUCTORI (the doer) is contrasted with HOMINES 5; the criminal
feels disgust for himself, the community even more so (so Housman). Therefore
PRIMA 2 URNA 4 should be placed in an explanatory parenthesis and followed by a colon.

474A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

PRIMA Sen. Ep. 97.14 prima illa et maxima peccantium est poena peccasse;
cf. on 192 sqq.
3 Cf. 4.8.
4 Servius quotes this line on Aen. 6.431 and refers both passages to a ballot before the praetor to determine the order in which the cases |[538] shall come on. But
this sense is inadequate for the context and the wording of Juvenals line, which
demand a reference to an acquittal in a legal trial, contrasted with condemnation
before the bar of ones own conscience. There are two possible references; either to
the urn (cf. Hilgers 302) used for balloting to select the iudices for each case from
the full panel (RE 1495 and Kl. Pauly 740 s.v. Losung, Mommsen2 219; cf. Ciceros
delicate remarks on the selection of iudices, Pro Mil. 21), or to that in which the iudices in the praetors court deposited their votes (Mommsen2 4446). The former
is more probable as this makes the urn more fallax (unless we are to suppose that
the praetor miscounts the votes).
VICERIT Has won the case; cf. victrix 1.50. Victoria often refers to acquittal.
5 RECENTI This is a reflection of the importance attached in Consolations to
choosing the right time (Kassel 52, Johann p. 37, Esteve-Forriol 128). Usually the
point is made that the consolation should not come too soon after the disaster, but
cf. Stat. Silv. 2 pr. huius amissi recens vulnus epicedio prosecutus sum; Sen. Ep.
63.13 dolor recens consolatorem invenit; Ovid Ex Ponto 4.11.17 sqq., Cic. Tusc.
4.63, Plut. (?) Cons. ad Apoll. 32.118c.
6 CRIMINE crime, cf. 24 and on 1.75.
SED Yet after all there are alleviating circumstances.
7 TENUIS CENSUS Hor. Epist. 1.7.56.
8 IACTURAE ONUS If iactura (cf. 177) retained its primary nautical sense
jettison (12.52), this would be a mixed metaphor; we should however think rather
of a faded metaphor, though even so the burden of a loss is not a happy phrase.
For MERGAT cf. 10.57.
NEC PATERIS Consolationes commonly put forward two related arguments, that other people have just the same sufferings, and that they have worse;
cf. 71 sqq., 126 sqq., Cic. Ad Fam. 5.16.2 est autem consolatio pervulgata quidem
illa maxime ut eventis aliorum memoria repetendis nihil accidisse novi nobis
cogitemus, ibid. 6.6.12, Tusc. 3.57 sqq. and 79 (with which cf. the ironic
of Theocritus ap. Stob. Flor. 124 (= 4.56).34, vol. 5 p. 1131, in the
chapter on ; see Kassel 701), Sen. Ep. 107 adduced in the introduction, Timocles ap. Stob. ibid. p. 1123

SATIRE thirteen475
.

Cf. Lier Philol. 62, 1903, 574 (add CIL 5.1721 = CEL 2156.8), |[539] Johann p. 64 nn.
2623, Kannicht on Eur. Hel. 464, and for a Greek proverb on the community of
misfortune Apostolius 9.96, Mantissa prov. 3.36 (2 p. 778) with Otto solus 2.
9 Cf. 12.26 cognita multis.
10 The metaphor is that of the lottery of Fortune (sors).
11 PONAMUS Juvenal sympathetically associates himself with Calvinus; cf. 31,
Plut. Quomodo Adulator 33.71f72a and e.g. Sen. Cons. Marc. 6.
12 VULNERE (cf. Stat. Silv. l.c. on 5 etc. and Esteve-Forriol 161) and DOLOR
(which of course here primarily indicates resentment but is carefully chosen for
its ambiguity) suggest bereavement; cf. 131 dolorem, where financial loss and bereavement are related, Tac. Agr. 45.5 noster hic dolor, nostrum vulnus, Sen. Cons.
Marc. 1.8, Cic. Tusc. 3.54.
VIRI Emphatic; cf. femina 192. Consolationes regularly insist on a manly attitude; (sc. ) Plut. (?) Cons.
ad Apoll. 4.103a, ibid. 4.102e is (cf. Kassel 59); Sen. Ep.
107.7 magnum sumere animum et viro bono dignum, Cons. Polyb. 17.2, Cic. Ad
Fam. 5.16.6. The link between men and docti, women and indocti (see on 181) is
made by Plut. (?) 22.112f113a, Sen. Cons. Marc. 7.3.
VULNERE MAIOR Disproportionate to the offence, cf. on 4.66.
is regularly inculcated in the Consolationes (e.g. Cic. Ad Fam. 5.16.5; Sen. Ep. 63.1
plus aequo dolere te nolo), though usually in connection with the Peripatetic ideal
of the mean as the norm of conduct in opposition to the Stoic ideal of ; cf.
Johann p. 66 n. 273.
13 Cic. Acad. Pr. 2.127 exigua et minima.
14 Cf. praecordia flagrantia 182 and on 1.45, 6.648; Sen. Oed. 358 spumat iecur,
a metaphor from the foaming of the mouth; De Ira 2.19.3 effervescente circa cor
sanguine, a view held by some Stoics.
FERRE The metaphor (cf. LEVIUM) is developed in 21.
1516 SACRUM Cf. sacrilega 72. Refusal to return a deposit seems to have been
quite common; Hor. Serm. 1.3.945, Pliny Ep. 10.96.7 etc., cf. CIL 14.2605 = CEL
477.4 reddedi depositum. The ancient economy did not depend on banks so much
as the modern, cf. Crook1 209 and Dig. 16.3 on deposits.
1617 POST TERGA RELIQUIT (Stat. Th. 5.507, Sil. It. 16.335) A metaphor
from the journey of life (10.363).
SEXAGINTA Cf. Menander fr. 127 (= Ter. Haut. 67)
, ,
.

FONTEIO may be the consul of A.D. 67 (RE no. 18, PIR2 F 4678, Degrassi Inscr.
Italiae 13.1 p. 267) or of A.D. 59, or even of A.D. 58; |[540] cf. pp. 12. In any case we

476A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

have only a terminus post quem, not an absolute date; Juvenal does not mean that
Calvinus is in his sixtieth year, but that he is a senex (cf. senior 33), having passed
(we are not told by how much) the age of sixty; cf. 14.197, Mart. 4.78.1.
18 The reading proficit is due either to the third persons of 1617 (for which see
on 5.19) or to a misunderstanding as if nihil were the subject.
1922 Verg. Georg. 2.490 sqq. has the same contrast between the theoretical
philosopher and the man in contact with practical life (cf. 120 sqq.);
Fronto p. 16.15 in a consolation to Herodes Atticus (cf. on
181). Juvenal reverses the old description of philosophy as magistra vitae (Cic.
Tusc. 2.16, Nepos fr. 39 Marshall = Cicero Ep. vol. 3 p. 153 Watt, Sen. Ep. 90.26); cf.
Ovid Her. 5.96 quis aetas longa magistra fuit.
With Clausens punctuation of 19 MAGNA and QUAE are feminine singular
and SAPIENTIA is subject to the main verb <est>. This is correct; other interpretations are excluded by QUOQUE 21.
SACRIS Since philosophy is donum deorum (Cic. Tusc. 1.64; see Khner there
and add Sen. Ep. 90.1, Hor. Epist. 1.3.27).
VICTRIX FORTUNAE SAPIENTIA (philosophy cf. 14.321) Cf. 10.28, 52, 365;
Sen. Ep. 71.30 sapiens quidem vincit virtute fortunam, 82.5; Manil. 1.797 Cato fortunae victor. FORTUNAE looks back to 10.
IACTARE JUGUM The opposite of 6.208 (cf. Sil. It. 14.107).
23 FESTA DIES Juvenal elsewhere uses dies feminine only with ordinals (7.161
in the ablative, 9.17 in the nominative) and in the meaning period of time (10.265);
contrast 15.41 laetum diem. The feminine here seems to be due solely to metrical
convenience, as often in the nominative singular (E. Fraenkel Glotta 8, 1917, 60 =
Kl. Beitrge 1.63), though perhaps we should allow for the influence of feriae. Dies
festa outside of poetry is found only in the sermo vulgaris of Petron. 45.4; Markland proposed fausta, but I know no example of the feminine with this adjective.
FUREM furtum Nisbet 237.
24 OMNI EX CRIMINE Cf. 1.75 and on 6 above.
LUCRUM (on 14.204) QUAESITUM i.e. quaesitionem lucri; cf. 206 and index
nouns.
25 GLADIO Cf. 10.20; a might contain e.g. medicinal drugs (2.141) or, as
here and Cic. Pro Cael. 65, Suet. Nero 47.1, poison.
27 The scholiast sees here an allusion to the famous Septem Sapientes. Thebes in
Boeotia had seven gates and the Nile seven mouths (the two are coupled Stat. Th.
8.353). By using these learned allusions Juvenal emphasises what a rare and exotic
creature the bonus is nowadays. |[541]
DIVITIS Enriching the land, cf. 15.123, Ovid Am. 3.6.39; cf. on 1.70, 6.382. The
wealth of Egypt depends on it (Athen. 5.203c).
28 Cf. 6.234. NONA AETAS (Lucan 7.387) is usually taken to mean the ninth
century of the city, which according to prophecy was destined to be fatal to it (

SATIRE thirteen477

Bern. Lucan 1.564 (Sibylla) nuncentesimum annum exitio Romanis cecinerat; one
may toy with the idea that a gloss of this form has influenced Ps nunc, but that is
probably merely a corruption of non); Claudius had closed the eighth saeculum
in A.D. 47. Dio Cass. 57.18.35 mentions the fatal number of 900 years, though
not counted from the foundation of the city, as occurring in a Sibylline prophecy
in A.D. 19 that Rome would perish through civil war and ;
this same prophecy was repeated in A.D. 64 (ibid. 62.18.3). On these Sibylline oracles cf. McGann Hermes 96, 1968, 509 sqq. (esp. 513); quoting parallels from other
Sibylline oracles he understands the reference here to be to nine , not nine
centuries of the city.
SAECULA Poetic plural, cf. 4.68, 6.24. On McGanns interpretation the line is
straightforward; on the alternative, one would naturally look for nonum saeculum
peiorque aetas, and we must assume an instance of an idiom occasionally used by
poets to dignify their language, interchange of terms. Cf. Ovid Met. 1.39 fluminaque obliquis cinxit declivia ripis with Bmers note, and see also Wilamowitz
on Eur. Her. 883, Bell 31718 (with due caution), Burkhardt Gymn. 78, 1971, 407.
Bmer Hermes 80, 1952, 117 and 83, 1965, 130 discusses Verg. Aen. 6.8478, where
contrary to normal usage excudere is used for bronze and ducere for marble statues; see also Ovid Am. 3.7.21 sic flammas aditura pias aeterna sacerdos, and Verg.
Aen. 4.36 non Libyae, non ante Tyro may be a variation of the idiom (for Libya
Tyri).
29 SCELERI Abstract criminality; cf. Naegelsbach 17.1.
IPSA NATURA For the word-order cf. on 11.140.
30 Servius, commenting on ultima (Juvenals nona) Cumaei venit iam carminis
aetas (Buc. 4.4), remarks (Sibylla) saecula per metalla divisit; a sarcastic age of lead
Lucian Saturn. 20.
31 Plaut. Aul. 300 quin divom atque hominum clamet continuo fidem; Livy
22.14.7 non homines tantum, sed foedera et deos ciebamus; at Sil. It. 2.484 Fides
is decus divumque hominumque. Cf. CEL 1178.278, Thes. 6.1.665.80, Schulze 170
sqq.
NOS (cf. on 11) is indignant; .
323 SPORTULA (on 1.95) Those who receive the sportula, his clients; they
applaud their patron while he speaks in court, cf. Mart. 6.48, Pliny Ep. 2.14.4, Gell.
9.15.9, Lucian Rhet. Praec. 21. This sarcastic addition implies that Calvinus clamor
is excessive.
33 BULLA A sign of infancy, cf. on 5.164 and 14.5. |[542]
(cf. Otto senex 1, Nachtrge 211 and 244, Norden 2 n. 6). Similar rough addresses,
with the obvious aim of shocking the recipient out of his state of mind, are often
found in consolations; cf. 1402 and Kassel 14.
35 RISUM Sen. Ep. 107.5 offendi istis rebus ridiculum est.
36 NE PEIERAT ET (sc. ut cf. 16.9) PUTET Cf. 91.

478A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ULLIS For this I have proposed altis (BICS 13, 1966; 42), arguing that you ask
anyone to think that there is some divinity in any temples does not make sense.
NUMEN Cf. 10.365.
RUBENTI Ovid Ex Ponto 3.2.54 (the altar of Tauric Diana), Theocr. 17.127; the
blood (about which Roman sources say little; Latte 388, RE immolatio 1129.47) was
poured on the altar and the oath taken over it, cf. 89 and the phrase .
38 INDIGENAE , cf. 6.124 and 352; Origo Gentis Rom. 3.1 Iano
regnante apud indigenas Saturnus exceptus hospitio est.
39 SUMERET This is the common Silver subjunctive after priusquam without
any idea of anticipation.
DIADEMATE Cf. 105 and on 8.259.
SATURNUS (6.1) is regularly falcifer and identified with and his ;
his name was derived (wrongly) from satus and satio. See Bmer on Ovid Fasti
1.234.
FUGIENS arma Iovis fugiens Verg. Aen. 8.31920.
TUNC See on 6.235.
41 PRIVATUS Cf. on 1.16; Jupiter was still a subject. The language throughout
(virguncula, taberna, prandebat) is ironical, and the effect of the resounding caelicolarum in contrast with its humble surroundings is similar. Cf. 6.15 Iove nondum
barbato; Ap. Rhod. 3.134 , a piece of Hellenistic prettiness, cf. id. 1.5089 and Juv. 14.2701. For the cave see West on Hes.
Theog. 477.
43 Ovid Trist. 2.4056 huc Herculis uxor, / huc accedat Hylas Iliacusque puer;
cf. 5.59, 9.47 and for Hebe Homer Il. 4.23.
44 AD CYATHOS Cf. Prop. 4.8.37; the cyathus was a ladle used to transfer
wine from the mixing-bowl to the drinking-cup; hence stare ad cyathum was to
serve the wine NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 1.29.8, cf. Hilgers 166, Blmner1
396, 403.
ET continues the negative, where nec might have been used; cf. -que 184 and
15.125.
NECTARE i.e. calice nectaris; cf. 5.47 and Hor. Odes 1.31.11. Vulcan arrives begrimed from his smithy (cf. 10.132), the heat of which has made him so thirsty that
he has to drain off a cup of nectar before cleaning himself (whereas at Homer Il.
18.414 he does clean |[543] ). Under normal circumstances a Roman
would take a bath before his meal. s gloss aut liquifacto would seem to indicate a
variant saccato strained, i.e. even after the nectar was ready for the table (Nisbet
Hubbard on Hor. Odes 1.11.6, MarescalchiDalmasso 73, Marquardt 334, Blmner1
4023), Vulcan was still cleaning himself; but this is far less forceful.
LIPARAEA 1.8; i.e. on Hiera.
TABERNA His retail shop is identical with his officina, as would often be the
case with a Roman craftsman (Blmner1 640, RE Industrie 1482).

SATIRE thirteen479

46 PRANDEBAT SIBI QUISQUE is contrasted with convivia 42; cf. 1.1401.

PRANDEBAT is sarcastic took his lunch, as at 10.178; cf. on 83.
TURBA DEORUM Sen. fr. 39 (ap. Augustine CD 6.10) omnem istam ignobi
lem deorum turbam quam longo aevo longa superstitio congessit; Apoc. 9.3; e.g.
Ganymede (43) and Hercules (cf. on 48).
TALIS UT I know of no other example of this combination (for Livy 42.42.7 is
different); talis is answered by ac (atque) at Ter. Ph. 1028, Cic. In Vat. 10, and Cic.
1 Verr. 3 has tantum tantopere ut (with which Juv. 7.312 is not to be compared;
there tantum means only).
478 SIDERA i.e. caelum.
Cf. Stat. Ach. 1.93 superisque gravatum Pelion; so at the deification of Hercules
(Ovid Met. 9.274) sensit Atlas pondus, and similarly at the deification of Nero
(Lucan 1.56); when the gods leave heaven (Stat. Th. 5.430) respirat caelifer Atlas and (Petron. 124.264) sentit terra deos mutataque sidera pondus / quaesivere
suum; Germanicus 2645 sustinet Atlas / regna Iovis superosque atque ipso pondere gaudet; [Sen.] Herc. Oet. 11.
MINORI is evidently preferred to minore to give a weightier close to the line,
cf. Bmer on Ovid Met. 8.190. The form is used at 7.77 for metrical convenience;
cf. Priscian GLK 2.346, NeueWagener 2.265 (add Stat. Silv. 1.3.50). Apart from a
probable occurrence at Ovid Met. 8.443 (not at 5.598) it seems to be confined to
Silver poetry.
4952 There being no crime in the Golden Age (53).
49 With aliquis here and aut in 50 the reference must be to Neptune (for similar indirectness cf. alius 1.10, 10.257), but he does not fit into the context of punishment for crime, and TRISTE puts it beyond doubt that the underworld and Pluto
are meant. Therefore Housman should be followed; for IMI he compares Ovid
Met. 4.444, Stat. Th. 4.476, Sil. It. 5.241 and 7.6889, and for PROFUNDI cf. Sen.
Phaedr. 1478, Oed. 5778.
SORTITUS alludes to the famous story of the drawing of lots between Zeus,
Posidon and Pluto for sky, sea and underworld. |[544]
50 SICULA Carried off from Henna; she is Hennaea at Sil. It. 7.689 and (with
variants Aetnaea) 1.93, 13.431, 14.245.
51 The punishments of Ixion, Sisyphus and Tityus, the three famous sinners
(Ovid Met. 4.457, Sen. Ep. 24.18, Lucian De Luctu 8; cf. Prop. 3.5.424 and on this
and Lucr. 3.978 sqq. see BICS 16, 1969, 71). FURIAE may indicate Tantalus, who
often makes a fourth (cf. Tarrant on Sen. Ag. 15 sqq.), though Verg. Aen. 6.6027
doubtless does not refer to him.
ATRI Sen. Thy. 10.
52 REGIBUS i.e. rege et regina, cf. Sen. Med. 873, CIL 3.7371 = ILS 4056, Neue
Wagener 1.902, and regularly of the king and queen of Egypt (; Theocr.
17.132 of Zeus and Hera compared with the Ptolemies; cf. E. Mayser Gramm. der

480A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Gr. Pap. 2.1 (1926) 38); cf. Sen. Med. 59 Tonantibus, Plaut. Amph. 960 eri (for
domini cf. Thes. s.v. 1911.9 and Sen. Herc. 805 uterque dominus), OGIS 606 = R.
Cagnat Inscrr. Graecae ad Res Rom. Pertinentes 3 (1906) 1086 o of
Tiberius and Livia (Weaver Historia 13, 1964, 188 tries to establish a similar use of
Augusti, but see Chantraine ibid. 24, 1975, 603). See Fahnestock and Peaks TAPA
44, 1913, 845; many words of relationship are used thus (KS 1.61, Meister 1227).
Cf. on 11.105.
53 ADMIRABILIS Cf. 6.646.
54 morte piabunt Verg. Aen. 2.140.
55 On this token of respect cf. Cic. De Inv. 1.48, Tac. Ann. 3.31, Sittl 152, Kroll2
2.64, RE (2065.35) and DS (1060) Salutatio, Mommsen1 1.398. But VETULO old
fellow gives a touch of irony which maiori would not have suggested.
56 LICET has now become a conjunction indifferent to the sequence of tenses;
KS 2.444, HS 605.
BARBATO Throughout this passage the ideal past is ironically described in
terms of contemporary life, and this word is anachronistic. In the Golden Age nobody would shave the beard, but during most of Juvenals lifetime it would only be
worn by young men (on 4.103; he totally ignores the Hadrianic fashion of wearing
one). Iuvenes defer to senes and pueri imberbes to iuvenes; but Juvenal obscures his
point by the exaggeration in 59, where lanugo takes up barbato.
57 There being no money then (Prop. 3.13.26; cf. Lucr. 5.695); for FRAGA and
GLANDES (Thes. s.v. 2032.18) as the food of the Golden Age cf. 6.10, 14.184; Ovid
Met. 1.1046, Dicaearchus fr. 49 Wehrli2 with A. O. Lovejoy and G. Boas Primitivism and Related Ideas (1935) 95, RE Eiche 2068, Pohlenz in Leo (1911) 86, J.
Haussleiter Der Vegetarismus in der Antike (1935) 56, West on Hesiod Works 233.
GLANDIS Collective singular, KS 1.68.
59 ADEO Causal, cf. 6.49, 10.297. |[545]
60 DEPOSITUM INFITIARI Sen. De Ben. 4.10.1, Celsus Dig. 47.2.68 (67) pr.
(cf. [Quintil.] Decl. 245, 312, 353); Paul. Fest. 112 infitiari, creditum fraudare. So
infitiator, infitiatio; cf. abnegare 94, Paulus quoted on 71, etc. Ter. Ph. 55 ut nunc
sunt mores si quis quid reddit, magna habendast gratia.
61 The old leather bag (in which the money was handed over; 14.281), rust and
all (cf. 6.171, 14.61); Lucian Icaromen. 30, cf.
Plaut. Bacch. 680.
62 PRODIGIOSA FIDES Their honesty is a portent.
TUSCIS LIBELLIS Of the haruspices (2.121); RE Etrusca disciplina 725, RSV
3.411, Thulin 1.1.
63 On the garlanding of animals for sacrifice cf. Baus 13, Turcan (on 12.84) 117.
In fact Roman authors seldom mention this (Pliny NH 16.9, Min. Fel. 37.8, Tertull.
De Cor. 10.20); to them the specific infulae and vittae (12.118) are more important.
6370 Contrast 2.1213 (with monstra). The length of the list shows that Ju-

SATIRE thirteen481

venal is incidentally mocking traditional catalogues of portents (cf. Weinreich

in Studies in Honor of D. M. Robinson (1953) 2.1147). The traditional categories
are listed and discussed by F. Luterbacher Prodigienglaube und Prodigienwesen2
(1904) and L. Wlker Geschichtliche Entwicklung des Prodigienwesens (1903). The
hiatus and the line-end in 65 high-light the monstrosity.
BIMEMBRI i.e. half-human, half-animal; the word is often applied to the Centaurs. Cf. Luterbacher 26, Wlker 14, Pease on Cic. De Div. 1.93.
PISCIBUS Livy 42.2.5 (referring to what in fact is a natural phenomenon; see
Weissenborn ad loc.); cf. Heinze on Lucr. 3.785 and Walbank on Polyb. 34.10 (p.
610).
FETAE MULAE Luterbacher 27, Wlker 15, Pease on 1.36; cf. Pliny NH 8.173,
Cic. De Div. 2.61. Cum mula pepererit (Otto mulus 2) = on the Greek Calends.
LAPIDES EFFUDERIT IMBER Wlker 12, Cic. De Div. 1.98 with Pease, F. B.
Krauss An Interpretation of the Omens Recorded by Livy (1930) 55.
68 Luterbacher 28 and 51, Wlker 16, Thulin 3.98, RE Biene 448. The agricultural writers use UVA to mean a cluster of bees; cf. Pliny NH 11.55 uva dependente in
domibus templisque (cf. DELUBRI), Homer Il. 2.89 .
70 i.e. gurgitibus et vertice miris lactis. For rivers running with milk cf. Livy
34.45.7, Obsequens 27a and 43, Krauss l.c. 656, Pease De Div. p. 273b. notes aut
lacteis aut sanguineis, i.e. he was unsure whether miris was merely an elaboration
of lactis vertice or a different prodigy. In view of repeated attempts to introduce
it, it may be |[546] as well to remark that there is no adjective minius (Heraeus on
Mart. 11.99.6; subminius at Plaut. Epid. 232 is a corruption); cf. on 178.
GURGES means body of water, not whirlpool; see J. Henry Aeneidea 1
(1873) 378 on Aen. 1.11718 (modern numbering). This passage means an eddying
stream, one with floods and a vortex, forming vortices in its course; cf. Pan.
Lat. 12.8.2 (p. 277.6 Mynors) gurgitibus vorticosis, Amm. Marc. 16.12.55, Verg. Aen.
7.567 et torto vertice torrens.
LACTIS Genitive of material, KS 1.429, HS 52.
71 Paulus Dig. 47.2.1.2 is qui depositum abnegat non statim etiam furti tenetur,
sed ita si id intercipiendi causa occultaverit.
SACRILEGA Cf. 15; because the deposit was protected by an oath, cf. 75, 201.
10,000 sesterces is less than the cost of two skilled slaves (on 4.25), half of what
Naevolus regards as a comfortable annual income (9.140).
ALTER For consolation by comparison cf. on 89.
73 HOC MODO By perjury of the trustee.
ARCANA deposited without witnesses; Juvenal appears to hint at the correct
etymology of this word from arca (Paul. Fest. 16, Nonius 32).
74 CEPERAT had contained; on 10.148. ANGULUS ARCAE A chest filled to
the corners.
75 FACILE ET PRONUM 9.43; for PRONUM cf. Sil. It. 13.183.

482A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

TESTES Cf. Ovid Am. 3.3.19; they are essential to an oath.

76 quis enim sciet? Pliny Ep. 4.25.4.
NEGET (sc. the defrauder) cf. on 60. Ovid Am. 1.4.70 constanti voce dedisse
nega; Tac. Hist. 2.13.
78 sqq. He requests all these weapons to be turned against him if he perjures
himself; cf. Ovid. 3.3.2730. For an oath by the rays of the sun cf. Homer Il. 3.277,
Bmer on Ovid Met. 1.7689. Juvenals idea presumably is that he would use his
rays to blind the perjurer; for mythological instances of blindness caused by the
sun cf. RE Helios 60.56, 85.32.
TARPEIA i.e. Iovis Capitolini, cf. 12.6, 6.47; Sil. It. 17.267 Tarpeio Iovis telo.
For FULMINA cf. 223, 3.145 (with contemnere, cf. 75), Pliny NH 2.21, Aristoph.
Clouds 397, Lucian Timon 2. carries thunderbolts in both hands, Paus.
5.24.9; Stat. Silv. 3.1.185 aetherii iuravit fulmina patris; Jupiter is the special god of
oaths, Wissowa 118. Cf. RAC Gewitter 1127.
79 FRAMEAM A German word for spear (Tac. Germ. 6.1, where see Much3);
cf. 2.130, 11.106.
CIRRHAEUS VATES Apollo (7.64). |[547]
80 Tibull. 1.4.25, Ovid Fasti 2.157. For the adjectival use of VENATRIX see on
4.62. Diana is referred to.
81 For cult names of Posidon associating him with the Aegean cf. RE Aigeus
955.31, Poseidon 493.55; Verg. Aen. 3.74 Neptuno Aegaeo in relation to Delos. He
is pater profundi Val. Fl. 2.606, meaning that he is paterfamilias, master (Nisbet
Hubbard on Hor. Odes 1.3.3; cf. Fustel de Coulanges book 2 ch. 8.1 fin.).
83 From the sublime to the ridiculous, cf. on 46. He is ridiculing the epic catalogue of Lucan 7.14450. For a catalogue ending in asyndeton cf. on 8.27, and for
QUICQUID whatever else on 10.173.
84 For oaths by the head (cf. on 174) of ones son cf. (6.1617), Paulus Dig. 12.2.4
tu per caput tuum iurasti vel filiorum tuorum, Pliny Ep. 2.20.5; cf. Sittl 140 n. 2,
DS ius iurandum 752b n. 29, Pease on Verg. Aen. 4.357. Here the man calls down
on himself the fate of Thyestes. Every oath ends in a curse on the perjurer, Plut.
Quaest. Rom. 44, cf. RAC Drohung 326.
COMEDAM sc. si mentior.
FLEBILE Proleptic, to my sorrow. Prof. Rudd prefers to interpret pitiable
brain, quoting Sidon. Apoll. Carm. 5.419 miserabile sinciput.
SINCIPUT Romans ate this part of the pig (Blmner1 174; add Macrob. Sat.
3.13.12 of the wild boar)! That is why Juvenal says sinciput rather than caput.
85 For Egyptian vinegar cf. Blmner1 192 n. 5, Andr 196, RE Essig 690.40. Juvenals language is purposely ludicrous; the perjurer would not have added these
picturesque details himself Duff.
869 i.e. the Epicureans; their dogmas could lead to perjury, Quintil. 5.6.3 (but
would not necessarily do so; Pliny NH 2.22). The view of an orthodox layman

SATIRE thirteen483

(Sen. Ep. 16.4) is deus rector est. NULLO RECTORE is ablative absolute (on 1.13).
88 Cf. Lucr. 5.767, Prop. 1.15.30, Tib. 1.4.20; Verg. Aen. 3.376 deum rex volvit
vices, 6.796 anni solisque vias (meaning the zodiac). VICES LUCIS = night and
day, V. ANNI = the seasons.
89 ALTARIA TANGUNT Cf. 14.219 and on 3.144; DS ius iurandum 770a n. 4
and 771b nn. 368, RE Altar 1690, Sittl 142, Wagenvoort 50 n. 1, Dlger 2, 1930, 166,
McCartney CJ 21, 19256, 121.
90 Some bad men, says Juvenal , are atheists, and therefore commit perjury
without a qualm. Another type of man (hic), he proceeds in 90108, believes in
God yet commits perjury all the same A reader who did not see the sense of hic,
and thought to provide it with a reference, has inserted verse 90; so that perjurers
are now divided, not into atheists and theists, but into atheists and those who
dread punishment, and it is then mentioned in passing that these latter are theists
Housman xxxiv. For HIC so used cf. 6.73 etc. |[548]
91 PUTAT Cf. 36. ET and yet, cf. 114 and on 7.124.
93 For blindness ascribed to Isis cf. Ovid Ex Ponto 1.1.514, Nicarchus AP 11.115,
Plut. De Iside et Osir. 17 and 63 (with the commentary of J. G. Griffiths p. 525),
Cumont1 237 n. 44, ML Isis 5434, de Meulenaere Chron. dgypte 28, 1953, 2557,
Y. Grandjean Une Nouvelle Artalogie (1975) 24; many gold and silver ex-voto
eyes have been found in the sanctuary of Isis at Delos. Swearing by the eyes was
common; Sittl 139 n. 2, Gow on Theocr. 6.22, HeadlamKnox on Herodas 6.23.
SISTRUM ( from ) The rattle used in Isiac rites; see RE s.v. and
Witt plate 39. This corresponds to the weapons of 78 sqq.
94 ABNEGO Cf. on 60.
95 DIMIDIUM CRUS Cf. on 8.4.
96 PAUPER sc. ; if he were poor. For Latins lack of a present participle from
esse cf. KS 1.239.
LOCUPLETEM PODAGRAM The rich mans gout, cf. 99 esuriens ramus. The
natural association of wealth and gout is illustrated by Mayor and by Brecht 81.
OPTARE To pray for; see on 10.9.
97 Either even Ladas would not hesitate or Ladas would not even hesitate
(the word-order favours the second). There were two famous runners of this
name, Olympic victors, whose name became proverbial at Rome (perhaps because
a statue of one of them by Myron came there; cf. Mingazzini Jahreshefte st. Arch.
Inst. 50, 19723, 13). See L. Moretti Olympionikai (Mem. Acc. Lincei8 8, 1957, 2) 96
and 135, Otto Ladas (and note also E. Ziebarth Aus der Antiken Schule2 (1913) p. 7
no. 16). The discussions in RE Ladas can only confuse.
ANTICYRA Two places of this name (Otto s.v., RE Antikyra nos. 1 and 3) in
Phocis and Malis both produced hellebore (RE s.v., Otto elleborus, adding Plaut.
Men. 913; Frazer on Paus. 10.36.7), which was a purge used to remove excess of
black bile and treat madness (Brink on Hor. AP 300, OBrien Moore 3047). Here

484A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

ANTICYRA means a dose from A..

98 ARCHIGENE The medicines or surgery (cf. 6.46) of the doctor Archigenes,
who flourished under Trajan (Suidas 1.376.1; note that here and in 125 Juvenal
names contemporaries, whereas his usual practice is to take characters from the
past); cf. 6.236, 14.252, RE s.v. and suppl. 11.1099, T. C. Allbutt Greek Medicine at
Rome (1921) 27686 (esp. 282), M. Wellmann Die Pneumatische Schule (1895) 8, 61,
222. He wrote a work covering treatment with hellebore used by Oribasius Coll.
Med. 8 = 1.247 and 250 Raeder (the reference in |[549] Galen 16.124 Khn is a late
forgery). On the ablative termination in as if from a noun of the first (instead of
the third) declension cf. Housman JP 31, 1910, 258 = Coll. Papers 833 and (on the
vocative) Schulze 8990; cf. the accusative en 6.236, 14.252.
99 ESURIENS (cf. 7.7) Again from the sublime to the ridiculous; esuriens ramus is the olive-wreath accompanied by hunger (cf. 96). Cf.
Anth. Plan. 54.4 in an epigram on Ladas. PISAEAE at the Olympic
games.
100 A common sentiment from Homer Il. 4.1601 onwards (e.g. Stat. Th.
5.689); cf. Otto deus 11 with Nachtrge 100, 153, 268, Woodman on Vell Pat. 2.126.4,
Plutarchs treatise , the proverb
, , Sen. Contr. 10 pr. 6 sunt di immortales
lenti quidem sed certi vindices generis humani. The perjurer reverses the usual emphasis of the sentiment to comfort himself, cf. DS ius iurandum 769b n. 32.
1002 Pliny NH 2.26 poenas maleficiis aliquando seras occupato deo in tanta
mole, nunquam autem inritas esse; Prop. 2.30.11 deus exorabilis ille est,
Plato Laws 10.901c, Hom. Il. 9.497 (criticised by Maximus of Tyre 5
Hobein.3).
103 HIS Such acts of perjury as mine.
105 The general sentiment is like Cato ap. Gell. 11.18.18; cf. Vell. Pat. 2.45.2 conservatae patriae pretium calamitatem exilii tulit.
TULIT Gnomic perfect cf. 2.83, 10.7, 13.241.
DIADEMA Cf. 29.
106 DIRAE Cf. 8.119.
107 SACRA VOCANTEM To swear in a sacred place (cf. 89, 219); there is
a vivid dialogue on such an occasion in the colloquium Harleianum, CGL 3.114.27
sqq.
IMMO The unique example of this word with a participle.
VEXARE pester.
109 SUPEREST Is present in abundance; 237, Ovid Trist. 3.9.17 superest ingens
audacia menti. For the audaciafiducia contrast cf. Thes. 6.1.701.69.
11011 MIMUM Cf. 6.O.27; for CATULLI see on 8.186; URBANI witty.
notes talis est mimus ubi servus fugitivus dominum suum trahit, i.e. to the altar to
receive his oath that he was free-born (Mayor). Cf. Sen. Ep. 114.6 non aliter quam

SATIRE thirteen485

in mimo fugitivi divitis solent.

SCURRA (4.31) Cf. on 8.190.
11213 For these shouts see Iliad 5.7856 and 85961 and cf. Otto Stentor; a bereaved person wails as loud as Stentor, Lucian De Luctu 15. For HOMERICUS cf.
12.23 and 120, Sen. Dial. 9.2.12 ille Homericus Achilles, KS 1.211. |[550]
VINCERE Cf. Hor. Serm. 1.6.44; there is no allusion to the contest between
Stentor and Hermes reported by on Homer.
113 sqq. Cf. Verg. Aen. 4.206 Iuppiter aspicis haec? nos munera templis /
quippe tuis ferimus; Livy 8.5.8, Lucian Timon 23; Juv. 2.130 sqq. with a similar use
of nec = nec tamen (cf. on 91 and 15.65, 3.102). The commercial attitude taken in
dealing with the gods is characteristically Roman (Appel 150).
VEL VEL A parody of the formulae of Roman religion, which in cases of
uncertainty about the nature of the god in question tried to cover all eventualities;
cf. Appel 75 sqq:, H. Usener Gtternamen (1896) 336, E. Norden Agnostos Theos
(1913) 146; H. Kleinknecht Gebetsparodie (1937) 140 compares Lucian Iupp. Trag.
7.
MARMOREUS, AENEUS Cf. 11.116, Hor. Serm. 2.3.183 aeneus ut stes, Verg.
Buc. 7.35 nunc te (sc. Priape) marmoreum fecimus aureus esto. Such forms
of expression, which are common (Gow on Theocr. 10.33), are a faint reflection of
the primitive belief that the god and his statue are identical (cf. 8.111, on 4.40, RE
suppl. 5.473, SG 3.167 = 3.198, Callim. Hymn 5 passim).
AUT Or else; HS 499.
116 Incense is carried to the temple wrapped in paper (cf. Hor. Epist. 2.1.269,
Pers. 1.43, Mart. 3.2.5, Stat. Silv. 4.9.12); this may emphasise the poverty of the
suppliant.
CARBONE i.e. foco; SECTUM i.e. exsectum; VITULI cf. 12.79; PORCI cf.
10.355.
OMENTA Catull. 90.6, Pers. 2.47, Arnob. 7.245.
118 quod (?) video in a similar context 6.395.
119 VESTRAS Of you and your fellow-gods, cf. 8.126.
VAGELLI The stupid orator of 16.23, who was presumably presented with a
statue by a grateful client (cf. Sen. De Ben. 5.8.2, Pliny NH 34.17, CIL 6.1390 = ILS
920 and on 7.126). Perhaps a point like 8.55 is hinted, or like 1.12931.
120 ACCIPE Cf. 15.31 and p. 32.
121 ET even.
1212 On the relationship between Stoics and Cynics cf. Cic. De Off. 1.128, D.
R. Dudley History of Cynicism (1937) 96103, 18799, Pohlenz 2.756 and 84, J. M.
Rist The Stoic Philosophy (1969) 54, Zeller 34.1.287 and 360. Cynics discarded the
in their search for (Lucian Cyn. 1, M. Aurel. 4.30, Lucillius AP
11.154.6, Epictet. 4.8.31) and instead wore a double pallium (Zeller 24.1.318). The expression is concentrated so that the philosophers themselves and their doctrines

486A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

are not distinguished.

123 Cf. 14.319; hence the frequent contrast between and . EXIGUI
emphasises its modesty; hortuli (Thes. s.v. 3014.58, |[551] 3015.6) is used with a
similar nuance, cf. Plut. Non Posse Suaviter Vivi 16.1098b. Epicurus re
commended a tenuis victus (Cic. Tusc. 5.89), and Juvenal humorously speaks as
if he grew his own vegetables (Haussleiter (on 57) 27281; cf. Zeller 34.1.376); he is
Phanias AP 6.307.6 = GowPage HE 3015. In fact the Garden cannot
have been all that small as it was the headquarters of his school.
124 DUBII critical, cf. Ovid Ex Ponto 3.4.8 and Thes. 2118.34. AEGRI acts as a
noun, cf. 234, 3.232, Ovid l.c. and on 2.9.
MEDICIS Dative of agent; CURENTUR treat, not cure (on 16.21). The metaphor of healing sickness (or sometimes wounds; on 12) is common in consolations; e.g. Sulpicius Rufus ap. Cic. Ad Fam. 4.5.5, Sen. Cons. Marc. 1.8. See Morford
(l.c. in introduction) 2931, Johann pp. 37 sqq.
125 VENAM This word indicates blood-letting at 6.46; but it may mean only
pulse, as e.g. Pers. 3.107.
PHILIPPI RE no. 50 (cf. no. 51), Wellmann (on 98) 19 n. 2; he was evidently a
pupil of Archigenes (98). There must be a derogatory implication, but the reflection may be only on the apprentice status of such a practitioner rather than on
Philippus himself.
126 Juvenal repeats the theme of 2370 (cf. Hor. Serm. 2.3.412); see on 89.
OSTENDIS you can show.
PUGNIS CAEDERE PECTUS A token of mourning, cf. Sittl 20 n. 1 and 23 n.
3, RE Trauerkleidung 2231 (add Lucan 3.733).
FACIEM CONTUNDERE Claudian De Bell. Gild. 135 contusa (v.l. confusa,
concussa) genas; Sittl 20 n. 8 and addenda 363, 24 n. 9; add Cic. Ad Att. 1.1.1, Lucan
9.105, Val. Fl. 2.142.
129 As for a funeral (Tac. Ann. 2.82, Livy 35.15.7, Cons. Liviae 183). Otherwise
it was a matter for surprise to find a door closed during the day (Plaut. Most. 444,
though that has been understood to mean locked).
1301 A parody of Verg. Aen. 2.4867 at domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu / miscetur plangoribus. For DOLOR and GEMITUS cf. on 12. DOLO
REM FINGIT is contrasted with lacrimis veris (cf. Stat. Silv. 3 pr.) 134.
132 VESTEM DIDUCERE Cf. 10.262, Ovid Met. 6.566 and 3.480, Sittl 25 n. 6,
Blmner1 497 n. 15, J. Heckenbach De Nuditate Sacra (1911) 33; but here only the
upper edge is torn.
UMORE (10.32) COACTO Cf. 6.2735, Mart. 1.33, Verg. Aen. 2.196.
135 Cf. Sen. Dial. 4.9.4. There were now five fora (2.52; six if the forum Pacis be
counted).
136 DIVERSA PARTE on the other side, i.e. the claimant and his |[552] lawyers
keep reciting the written acknowledgement originally given by the trustee, who

SATIRE thirteen487

however declares it a forgery. For the use of diversus cf. Suet. Iul. 29.2, [Quintil.]
Decl. 269 p. 100.6, Thes. 5.1.1576.80, and on 7.156; so often ex diverso.
137 Chirographi exhibitio was a normal part of proving money transactions
(Gell. 14.2.7); cf. Quintil. 6.3.100 chirographus verus, Ulpian Dig. 11.3.11.1 servo persuasi ut chirographa debitorum corrumpat, Riccobono ZRG 43, 1922, 320, Kaser1
234.
LIGNI The wooden tabellae (136) covered with wax; Tryphonianus Dig. 37.4.19
contra lignum = contra tabulas.
The whole line is equivalent to vana chirographa et supervacuum lignum.
138 LITTERA Handwriting; see Shackleton Bailey on Cic. Ad Att. 7.2.3.
SARDONYCHUM In rings 6.382, 7.144 and often. Sardonyches were particularly suitable for sealing-rings because they did not drag the wax away (Pliny NH
37.88). For forged seals cf. on 1.68. Even a man able to afford such an expensive
ring is liable to defraud through greed (or the implication may be that he has
profited from his perjury); it is so valuable that it is not worn but kept in a case of
ivory (RE loculi, Blmner1 130 nn. 7 and 12).
140 O DELICIAS Cf. 6.47 and on 10.291; of a man who gives himself airs and
expects to be exempted from the common lot (cf. Lucian Demonax 25): what
fastidiousness! For chiding of the bereaved for expecting such exemption cf. Cic.
Ad Fam. 6.1.1, Sen. Cons. Polyb. 1.34 (note commune), Menander fr. 740 ap. Plut.
(?) Cons. Apoll. 5.103c.
1412 TU sc. sis, NOS sc. simus.
141 A deliberately deflating expression, clearly of proverbial character. The difficulty is that white hens of course are common; ALBA therefore has been understood of good omen (cf. 12.65), contrasted with INFELIX 142. But this does not
quite suit the context, and there is probably a more specific allusion. There was
an imperial flock of white hens descended from one which gave an omen to Livia
(RE 7.670 s.v. ad Gallinas; Lugli Bull. del Commissione Archeol. di Roma 51, 1923,
26), of which Aurel. Vict. Caes. 5.17 says adeo multae albaeque erant aptioresque
religionibus ut iis Romae habeatur hodie locus (this is actually a confusion; see
Jordan Hermes 2, 1867, 87). Juvenal then is probably using a proverbial phrase,
meaning an aristocratic imperial hen, which gained currency before these hens
died off at the end of Neros reign (Aurel. Vict. l.c., Suet. Galba 1, Dio Cass. 63.29).
Even under Trajan there was a procurator gallinarum albarum (i.e. the estate), CIL
6.37763 = ILS 90245. |[553]
1434 FERENDAM SI FLECTAS go together; BILE cf. 5.159.
145 Not to be taken as a hendiadys for doloso sulphure; see Ulpian Dig. 1.15.4 qui
dolo fecisse incendium convincentur. English idiom would incline to differentiate
one of the two modal ablatives as instrumental and omit the copulative conjunction, cf. 14.35.
SULPURE See on 5.48; was collected in the house of Cethegus during the

488A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

Catilinarian conspiracy (Plut. Cic. 18.2).

IANUA Thus preventing egress (9.98); COLLIGIT (Thes. 1609.72) it catches
light.
148 ROBIGINIS Therefore the vessels are old and probably of bronze (cf. Pliny
NH 7.64), hence valuable (1.76); but ADORANDAE ROB. is of course a humorous
expression.
DONA , POSITAS , as often; ponere coronam Vitruv.
9 pr. 9 etc.
150 Metal or wood was gilded by laying on thin plates of gold (bratteae or
lamminae), which could be prised off by the finger of a thief, cf. Mart. 8.33.5 Duff;
hence brattearius, bratteator. Cf. RE brattea, Marquardt 686, Blmner2 4.230,
Lauffer on Edict. Diocl. p. 279. Bratteam ducere is the opposite of bratteam in
ducere (Pliny NH 33.65); DE clarifies this.
151 FACIEM Cf. SG 3.165 = 3.196.
153 This line is absolutely nonsensical as it stands (see BICS 22, 1975, 153), but it
looks most unlike an interpolation, and point is given to it by the emendation suggested by Munro to Mayor: an dubitet? solitumst t. c. Tonantem. Now the clause
solitumst gives a reason why the minor sacrilegus would not hesitate to commit
his thefts; morals are such that the melting down even of whole statues of Jove
is an everyday occurrence. This of course is an exaggeration, but not without its
grain of truth; cf. Clem. Alex. Protr. 4.52.3 and Arnob. 6.21 (Antiochus of Cyzicus),
Sen. Dial. 2.4.2, Suet. Nero 32.4, Lucian Iupp. Conf. 8. For AN DUBITET? cf. Stat.
Th. 7.126.
154 ARTIFICES Cf. Sen. NQ 3.25.1; MERCATOR VENENI 8.17, 9.100.
155 A parricide, cf. on 8.214; CORIO BOVIS (cf. Ad Herenn. 1.23) = culleo.
DEDUCENDUM As if he were a ship being launched.
156 INNOXIA The ape deserves sympathy, even if the man does not; cf. 10.60.
Yet at the same time the grand (cf. 10.129) ADVERSIS FATIS mocks the ape.
157 Sen. Dial. 4.9.3 et quota pars ista scelerum est? Cf. on 3.61.
HAEC Probably nom. fem. sing., with the usual attraction to the predicate, cf.
on 15.1335.
C. RUTILIUS (RE no. 19, PIR1 R 167) GALLICUS, praefectus urbi under Domitian, died in A.D. 912, but is spoken of by Juvenal as if still in |[ 554] office; see on
8.39 and SG 4.304 (not in ed. 10). On his criminal jurisdiction see Stat. Silv. 1.4 and
RE 22.2519, Garnsey 90; he also exercised it over much of Italy (Stat. l.c. 11, cf. RE
251718, Garnsey 93). See Vitucci 50 sqq.
CUSTOS Cf. Stat. l.c. 16 custodia, RE l.c. 2519 and custos 19034, Woodman on
Vell. Pat. 2.98.1, A. von Premerstein Vom Werden und Wesen des Prinzipats (1937)
143 and add Plut. Otho 5.4.
160 UNA DOMUS Not his house, but his office, by the temple of Tellus (RE
22.2519, Lanciani Bull. del Commissione Archeol. di Roma 20, 1892, 19); cf. Dem-

SATIRE thirteen489

osth. 21.85 .
162 For the endemic goitre of the Alpine districts cf. Vitruv. 8.3.20 and Pliny
NH 37.44, who attribute it to the water (correctly; goitre is still common in Switzerland).
163 MEROE 6.528. Synesius Ep. 4 (col. 1340 Migne) remarks the same in Cyrenaica (de Vries Mnem.3 12, 1945, 160); large pendulous breasts are common in
negro women.
1645 Sen. Dial. 5.26.3 (see the passage generally and cf. on 174) nec rufus crinis
et coactus in nodum apud Germanos virum dedecet; Tac. Germ. 4 caerul(e)i oculi,
rutilae comae; Sil. It. 4.200 flavam caesariem of a Gaul (202 rutilum sub vertice
nodum); Sidon. Apoll. Carm. 5.2401. Mart. Spect. 3.9 (with torquere) and 5.37.8,
Tac. Germ. 38 (see Muchs commentary ed. 3, p. 427 with plate 11, and fig. 25 facing
p. 180 in Andersons edition) like Seneca speak of nodus; cirrus Tertull. De Virg.
Veland. 10, Sidon. l.c. 226 (cirro madente) and 23840.
STUPUIT For the tense cf. on 3.160.
MADIDO greasy; the Germans greased their hair with a kind of soap (Pliny
NH 28.191; cf. Mart. 14.267, 8.33.20).
CORNUA Cf. LSJ V i.
166 Who asks the poet was ever amazed at wens in the Alps or blue eyes
in Germany? Nobody, the reader is expected to reply; for he knows that in those
places they are common. This was understood aright by the student who noted in the margin nempe quod haec illis natura est omnibus una (which verse
means obviously because all those folk are of this same type); but the explanation is so framed that it will not fit into the text, unless nempe is altered to nemo
Housman xxxii. Moreover natura only suits 1623; 1645 are ars, not natura. Tac.
Germ. 4.2 HABITUS quoque corporum idem omnibus is correctly phrased.
167 VOLUCRES NUBEMQUE cloud of birds by hendiadys; cf. McCartney
CP 55, 1960, 84.
THRACUM Storks gathered on the banks of the Strymon (Thompson1 68; RE
Strymon 392.53, Kranich 1573.11); for the legend of the fights between them and
the Pygmies (6.506) cf. Hom. Il. 3.36 etc., |[555] Thompson1 72, RE 2067 and ML
3287 s.v. Pygmaios, Frazer on Paus. 1.12.4; this is a favourite subject in art (ML 3291
sqq., Karageorghis Rev. Archol. 1972.47). The Pygmies are placed in Ethiopia by
Homer etc. (RE 2065), though Pliny NH 4.44 puts them in Thrace.
SONORAM Homer; AD cf. 223; CURVIS UNGUIBUS 8.129.
171 QUATIARE Cf. 3.101; GENTIBUS = terris, cf. OLD s.v. 3, Housman on
Manil. 4.602.
172 ASSIDUE By everyone, contrasted with nemo 173.
173 Pygmaeus being derived from cubit (RE s.v. 2066.43).
174 An . CAPITIS = hominis, as often it need not mean that the
swindler has sworn falsely by his head Duff (cf. on 85). For the general thought of

490A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

what follows cf. Sen. Dial. 5.26.12 (cf. on 164).

175 Sil. It. 6.582 dum non vinctum Carthago catenis / abripiat.
176 Yet even tyrants victims may be allowed (liberum) mortis arbitrium (Tac.
Ann. 11.33, 16.3, Suet. Dom. 8).
178 INVIDIOSA This word receives the emphasis.
MINIMUS SANGUIS at 10.217 means the small amount of blood left in an old
mans body. Here it would have to be taken to mean even a few drops of blood,
but that is quite incompatible with necari and corpore trunco. Minimus must be
corrupt; nimius a few mss., missus Wakefield, perhaps <socius>, which could have
dropped out before so-lacia. At any rate the form of the line strongly suggests that
an adjective should be restored; but there is no adjective minius (see on 70).
180 Publil. Syr. 231 (230 Spengel) inimicum ulcisci vitam accipere est alteram;
Sen. Dial. 4.32.1, Cornelia ap. Nepos fr. 59 Marshall; Aristotle Rhet. 1.11.1370b1 and
29, 2.2.1378b1.
181 sc. dicunt, cf. 184, 11.35, 14.189. INDOCTI non-philosophers (cf. 2.4).
is an important theme in Consolations; cf. Plut. (?) Cons. Apoll. 30.117a
, 33.119d
; cf. also 22.112f13a (see on 12), Fronto p. 16.7 (cf. on 19), Sen.
Cons. Marc. 7.3.
The implication of 1812 is that Calvinus, if he holds such an extreme view, is
acting like an indoctus; cf. 1315 levium ardens visceribus.
183 uncomfortably separates hoc indocti <dicunt> and Chrysippus non dicet
idem, and the scansion occasi seems not to accord with Juvenals practice (BICS
22, 1975, 156). ADEO emphasises the preceding word as e.g. Ovid Trist. 3.6.31.
184 Chrysippus, Thales and Socrates are an odd combination. |[556] Probably
Juvenal, who knew little about philosophy (as he admits 121 sqq.), chose the first
names to come into his head.
DICET The future is like that of 1.126 (q.v.); if you look up the works of C., you
will find that he says
CHRYSIPPUS 2.5 (cf. Zeno at 15.1067).
MITE THALETIS INGENIUM For the form of expression cf. 4.39 and 81 (note
mite ingenium 823), 1075. Thales was more interested in physics than in ethics, but was one of the proverbial Seven Sages (cf. on 26 and 2.6). Unfortunately
one of his apophthegms was (Diog. Laert. 1.36)
( ) . This does not contradict the letter of what Juvenal says (cf. 2489), but Juvenal would hardly have
chosen Thales as an example if he had known of it; cf. on 15.107.
SENEX Socrates, who was 70 at the time of his trial.
DULCI Val. Fl. 1.397, Sen. Phaedr. 23; because of its honey, which, it is implied,
gives a sweet temper (cf. mite), in contrast to Calvinus bitterness (amara 247).
186 Plato Apol. 41d .

SATIRE thirteen491

CICUTAE 7.206.
ACCEPTAE Of poisons Suet. Nero 33, Thes. s.v. 305.55 (cf. Quintil. 7.2.17), the
opposite of dare 187 (cf. 1.158, 6.134), a technical term of medicines and poisons,
whence , dose.
ACCUSATORI Meletus. Perhaps Juvenal is really thinking of the famous story of Theramenes toasting Critias with the hemlock; Theramenes and Socrates are
associated Cic. Tusc. 1.967 and confused by Teles p. 17.8 Hense2.
NOLLET where nlsset might have been expected, cf. on 4.85; here the imperfect is doubtless influenced by the future dicet, as if the philosophers mentioned were alive at the moment.
1879 A vapid sentence, certainly interpolated. Why plurima and not cuncta
(cf. Cic. Tusc. 5.5)? What is the point of prima? Felix has to be strained to mean
making men felices (though cf. misera 14.304 and on 27, 229). There seems to be
an awkward contrast between plurima vitia and errores omnes; to avoid this Clausen puts a comma after exuit, but this is harsh and in any case philosophy does
not teach omnes (hence omne Griffith1 57). Finally there is a harsh asyndeton exuit
docet, to avoid which the -mss. have introduced what is certainly a secondary
interpolation docens.
189 MINUTI Cic. Or. 94, ; for the cumulation of adjectives cf.
15.478, for the sentiment Musonius fr. X Hense.
191 COLLIGE infer cf. 11.198; sic collige Hor. Serm. 2.1.51, Epist. 2.1.119. |[557]
192 FEMINA Sen. De Clem. 1.5.5, Dial. 3.20.3, Plut. De Cohib. Ira 8.457b.
192 sqq. On the punishments of conscience cf. 1.166, Lucr. 3.1018, Lucan 7.783
4, Ovid Met. 8.5301, Sen. Ep. 97.1415 (cf. on 2), [Quintil.] Decl. 314 p. 236.13
conscientiam esse quae torqueat, animum esse qui urat. bene hercule factum est
quod etiamsi omnes fefellerimus effugere non possumus nos (on p. 237 there is a
description of the appearance of the wronged person in a dream, cf. Juv. 221 sqq.).
194 ATTONITOS terrified cf. on 12.21, 4.77; attonitum habere Val. Max. 3.3
ext. 4, Sen. Ep. 110.5 vana sunt ista quae nos attonitos habent. Cf. on 10.296 for
habere with adjective or participle.
SURDO unheard (7.71); see A. nnerfors Pliniana (1956) 823 (Pliny NH
19.20). So caecus unseen.
TORTORE (cf. 6.47980) acts as an adjective, cf. on 4.62. For the idea cf. Val.
Max. 7.8.8.
197 Caedicium aulicum Neronis crudelissimum fuisse vult intellegi ; but this
is probably merely an improvisation. A pleader of this name is mentioned 16.46.
Perhaps he gruesomely dilated on grisly punishments in his speeches and declamations, but this is hardly adequate for GRAVIS, and Juvenal probably chose a
character of this name to hint at caedere (cf. 6.4834); cf. on 2.50, 3.251.
RHADAMANTHUS Cf. Verg. Aen. 6.566 (see on 222) and Aeacus Juv. 1.10.
The combination of the two names is comic.

492A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

198 NOCTE DIEQUE 3.105, 7.61; in this context Cic. Pro S. Rosc. 67 (cf. Sil. It.
13.290).
SUUM against oneself. Quintil. 5.11.41 quotes a proverb conscientia mille testes, cf. Sen. Ep. 43.5.
199 sqq. The story of Glaucus (a type of remorse, Plut. De Sera Numinis Vindicta 11.556d) is reported by Herod. 6.86 (see H. W. ParkeD. E. W. Wormell The
Delphic Oracle (1956) 2 Oracular Responses no. 35). The story has nothing to do
with the penalties of conscience and is not, as most editors suppose, intended to
illustrate them; as Heinrich saw, it simply prepares by contrast for the a fortiori of
210. Conscience is the worst of punishments (1928); even the contemplation of
crime (peccandi sola voluntas 208) involved physical penalties in the case of Glaucus, so what (210) can we expect when the crime is actually committed? The even
worse penalties of repentance (211 sqq.). The punctuation could with advantage be
altered to voluntas, nam habet:
200 QUONDAM Even though, in the words of the oracle,
.
DUBITARET felt inclined to, as Cic. Ad Att. 12.49.1, Tac. Ann. 4.57.
203 ILLI Strict grammar would demand sibi; cf. HS 175, KS 1.610, |[558] Thes.
7.1.350.81 (add instances at Italicus Il. Lat. 710, Sen. Ep. 73.9, 82.6, Tac. Ann. 4.56.1
and, if this is a verbal quotation, Sall. Hist. fr. 4.71). The demonstrative pronoun
substitutes the narrators point of view for that of the questioner (Wilson).
204 The logic becomes plainer if (metu, non moribus) is placed thus in parenthesis. Cf. Thes. mos 1525.26.
205 Lucan 9.565 (Cato) effudit dignas adytis e pectore voces.
206 EXSTINCTUS i.e. exstinctio eius, the occisus Caesar idiom (cf. 24 and see
index nouns). Cf. Val. Fl. 4.33 cum gente domoque; for punishment passing to the
perjurers descendants cf. Hom. Il. 4.162, Hes. Op. 282 sqq., NisbetHubbard on
Hor. Odes 1.28.30. An imprecation involving this formed part of the (RE
and DS s.v.), Demosth. 54.38 sqq.
207 who traced descent from his stock, however far back; i.e. even those of
remote collateral descent Duff; cf. 8.2723.
20910 is guilty of its commission; Prop. 2.32.2 facti lumina crimen habent
(n.b. also peccat). So Herodotus
; Sen. Dial. 3.3.1, Val. Max. 7.2 ext. 8 and often (see Mayor). In this connection we meet voluntas with genitive gerund Sen. De Ben. 5.14.2, voluisse peccare
Val. Max. 6.1.8, sola mente atque animo adnitente Gell. 11.18.23, voluntates nudas
Gell. 6.3.47.
210 CEDO SI 6.504 tell me your opinion in the event that
CONATA Passive (on 6.539).
21213 Cf. Sen. Ep. 82.21, [Ovid] Her. 16.226 (= 228); this is a symptom associated with lack of appetite.

SATIRE thirteen493

SED follows nec 211. But SETINA is surely correct; the corruption to set vina is
simple. The wine of Setia is mentioned at 10.27 and associated with that of Alba at
5.334 (q.v.); the plural is found at Pliny NH 23.36, Mart. 4.69.1, and is common
with wine-names.
ALBANI SENECTUS old Alban wine cf. on 4.81; senectus of wine 5.34 (cf.
Ovid Met. 8.672), though here it is pleonastic with VETERIS. Cf. Hor. Odes 4.11.1
2 nonum superantis annum / plenus Albani cadus.
OSTENDAS Cf. on 3.100.
DENSISSIMA Cf. 1.120; COGITUR cf. Ovid Am. 2.2.33.
FALERNO Duff points out that the better wine (melius) is identical with the
Falernian, the only vintage which could rival Alban and Setine; the very sight of
it makes the man screw up his face as if it were bitter and he were drinking it. To
indicate the identity, English idiom would insert the definite article, by the Falernian; cf. on 8.120. One variety of Falernian (cf. on 4.138) was austerum (severum
Hor. Odes 1.27.9), dry (Pliny NH 14.63), but none was acre vinegary; the man
only imagines this, so VELUT ACRI should be enclosed in commas. |[559]
DUCTA Cf. trahit 14.325.
218 Catull. 50.1112, Prop. 1.14.21 and 2.22.47, Sen. Dial. 9 (De Tranq. An.) 2.6,
Val. Fl. 7.21.
219 NUMINIS is . For TEMPLUM cf. 107, and for ARAS 89.
220 SUDORIBUS Cf. 1.167; MENTEM cf. intus pallere Pers. 3.42.
221 TE VIDET IN SOMNIS (for the plural cf. Lfstedt 1.55) cf. Ovid Ibis 155
and often.
SACRA Supernatural. Cf. Verg. Aen. 2.773 nota maior imago, Tac. Hist. 4.83
and other parallels in Thes. humanus 3087.5, Wagenvoort 122. For a similar dream
cf. on 192.
222 Verg. Aen. 6.567 subigitque fateri (cf. on 197).
223 AD (cf. 167) OMNIA FULGURA is . Cf. Suet. Cal. 51, Sen. NQ
2.59.11 and the of Plut. De Sera Numinis Vindicta 10.555a; see on 78
and RAC Gewitter 1117.
224 CUM TONAT goes with what follows; cf. Ovid Tristia 1.1.82. QUQUE
even.
225 FORTUTUS Cf. gratutus Stat. Silv. 1.6.16 established by the hendecasyllabic metre (otherwise one might think of a consonantal u), fortutus Manil. 1.182
(who does not use synizesis), Petron. 135.9 (who also does not), Stat. Th. 7.449.
This is the Epicurean view, cf. Lucr. 5.1219 sqq.; with murmura caelum there cf. 224
here. Ovid Her. 7.72 quaeque cadent, in te fulmina missa putes.
VENTORUM RABIE Aristoph. Clouds 4048, where see Dover. [Addendum,
originally on p. 623: For winds and thunderbolts see Lucr. 6.246 sqq. with Baileys
notes.]
226 Prop. 2.16.52 fulminis ira, Hor. Odes 1.3.40 iracunda fulmina.

494A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

VINDICET So the Paris florilegia and a very few other mss. (including Rupertis Gaybacensis 2); cf. Ovid Ibis 476 aetherii vindicis igne cadas, Ex Ponto 4.8.60
Gigantas / ad Styga nimbifero vindicis igne datos. Iudicet might mean (1) act as
judge, but one can hardly conceive the lightning sitting in deliberation, (2) exercise judgment, i.e. discrimination, in choosing its victims, i.e. not fall blindly; but
this is most improbable in a context dealing with crime and punishment.
227 ILLA i.e. tempestas; a paratactic condition, cf. on 3.100, 6.329 sqq.
229 Cf. 3.232 aeger moritur vigilando; the fever (1) keeps men awake (cf. on 1.70,
6.382 and 187 above), (2) occurs in men who cannot sleep anyway (217). Cf. Ovid
Met. 3.396 curae vigiles, Celsus 4.13.1 huic dolori lateris (pleurisy) febris accedit.
232 TELA Sen. De Ben. 4.19.1; like the arrows of Apollo in Iliad 1. Anceps valetudo is a divine punishment Tac. Ann. 14.22.
PECUDEM BALANTEM i.e. agnam. Cf. the poet (Ennius Alexander?) quoted
by Cic. De Div. 1.42.5 hostiis balantibus; Enn. Ann. 186 and Lucr. 2.369 balantum
pecudes. This approaches the kind of kenning discussed on 8.155, and fits a ritual
context; one may compare Ovid |[560] Fasti 1.333 rex placare sacrorum / numina
LANIGERAE coniuge debet OVIS.
233 i.e. cristatum gallum (Mart. 9.68.3). Cf. 12.96 and 113, Pliny NH 10.49 and
156, RE Lares 815.49; even the smallest offering (HeadlamKnox on Herodas 4.16;
add CIL 6.820, Porph. Vit. Pythag. 36) to the smallest gods; cf. 235.
234 AEGRIS A noun; see on 124.
236 MALORUM Masculine; but the line is incompatible with 240. For FERME
cf. 8.73.
237 SUPEREST Cf. 109.
2379 Cf. Plut. De Sera Numinis Vindicta 10.554f, 11.556c.
239 NATURA RECURRIT Hor. Epist. 1.10.24.
DAMNATOS By themselves (cf. 14); they have seen their guilt (238) and condemn it, but continue to sin (cf. Cic. 2 Verr. 3.177).
241 POSUIT (cf. 6.444) Gnomic perfect, cf. 105.
242 Cf. Mart. 8.59.2; so often perfricare frontem, () .
When the loss of shame had caused the forehead to lose the power of blushing,
this was regarded as the result of rubbing the brow, which was supposed to become hardened; cf. on 2.8, 8.189, 11.204, 14.56, Otto facies 1 with Nachtrge 236,
Lucian Vit. Auct. 10 .
RUBOREM Cf. 10.300, 11.54.
244 DABIT IN LAQUEUM Like a hunted animal.
NOSTER Cf. Hofmann 128; a colloquial usage.
245 CARCERIS UNCUM See on 10.66; RUPEM SCOPULOSQUE e.g. Gyarus
(10.170); cf. 1.73 for both. Cf. Pliny Pan. 35 cum insulas omnes, quas modo senatorum, iam delatorum turba compleret; Tac. Hist. 1.2 plenum exiliis mare; [Sen.]
Octav. 382 remotus inter Corsici rupes maris, Philostr. Apoll. 8.5.4.

SATIRE thirteen495

248 NOMINIS INVISI Cf. Tac. Hist. 2.53.1, Ann. 2.44.2, 14.13.1.
249 SURDUM TERESIAN An odd combination (not defended by 5.1389,
quoted by Mayor), as I pointed out in BICS 13, 1966, 42, where comparing 3.238 I
proposed DRUSUM; Tiresias is blind, Claudius deaf.
2489 A bereaved person would naturally accuse the gods (e.g. Quintil. 6 pr. 4,
Fronto p. 220.25; cf. 112 sqq.). Editors generally claim that 2479 do not harmonise
with 181 sqq., contrasting gaudebis with gaudet 192. But in fact I cannot see that
there is any contradiction; 181 sqq. (cf. on 184) deal with the infliction of punishment by the injured party personally, whereas here the fact that punishment is not
inflicted by him but comes nevertheless is a proof that after all there is justice in
the world and therefore a cause for rejoicing.

[561]

Satire Fourteen

The structure of this poem has been analysed as follows by ONeil, CP 55, 1960, 251:
137 Children copy the faults of their parents.
38 (a new paragraph should begin here)69 Parents must therefore abstain
from wrongdoing for the sake of the children (no paragraph should be placed at
59).
70 (new paragraph)85 It is important that children grow up in the right atmosphere, otherwise they will imitate, and indeed surpass (cf. 224), parental
8695 extravagance, or
96106 superstition.
10718 But whereas they instinctively absorb these faults, they are actually encouraged to avarice, which includes both miserliness (11114) and greed (11418
adquirere).
119 (new paragraph)172 So, falling in with the attitudes of society, parents
teach both miserliness (1234, 12637) and greed (125 adquirere, 13872), which is
contrasted with the early days of Rome.
173 (new paragraph)255 The dishonourable and criminal results, contrasted
with the old days, of the inculcation of greed (189234; adquiro 223) and miserliness (23655); the latter (2356) leads to the former (adquiro 238; cf. MOX adquirendi 125), and the former to crime.
256302 The dangers faced in the acquisition of wealth (greed).
30316 The dangers faced in the preservation of wealth (miserliness).
316 (new paragraph)31 Conclusion; a moderate competence is enough.
The topics therefore are treated in this order, if we may symbolise miserliness
as a, greed as b, and the old days as c:
a (11114), b (11418) / a (1234, 12637), b (125, 13859), c (16071) / c (17988),
b (189234), a (23555) / b (256302), a (30316). This elaborately symmetrical
scheme is reminiscent |[562] of 1.81149, and there too Juvenal sees two sides of
avaritia (1.88, cf. 14.108), meanness (sordes 1.140, 14.124) and extravagance. Simi496

SATIRE Fourteen497

larly Plut. De Cupid. Divit. 7.526c (cf. on 207) comments that miserly fathers breed
miserly sons, concerned with (lucrum 204, 278, both in b contexts) and
.
The inclusion of two topics, parental influence and avarice, within the same
poem reminds us of Satire 2; Juvenal has taken pains to link them by contrast at
107, but in the end (after 255) the theme of parental influence does completely fade
away. One may recall how in Hor. Serm. 1.1 the introductory theme of discontent modulates with the contrast cum te 38 into a discussion of greed (lucrum; cf.
quaerendi 92), which takes over until the original theme is abruptly reintroduced
and the two are united in 108 (cf. on 3056 and 321); in that poem too avarice covers both miserliness and greed.
In both themes Juvenal had of course many predecessors, from whom illustrations are quoted in the notes. That of parental influence can be parallelled from
educational writers (see e.g. on 44), and in particular [Plut.] De Liberis Educandis
(cf. on 479, 2089) 20.14ab
,

,
,

, .
. ,
(quoted from Plato Laws 729c; cf.
Juv. 4 and 57).
1 FAMA SINISTRA Cf. 152 and Thes. fama 225.21 (add Tac. Ann. 11.19.3).
3 MONSTRANT By example, cf. 10, 37.
4 DAMNOSA (Mart. 14.18.1) ALEA Cf. on 1.88; SENEM cf. Suet. Aug. 71.12.
HERES BULLATUS A phrase like praetextatus adulter 1.78; for the bulla see
on 5.164 and cf. 13.33, for the word bullatus Scipio ap. Macrob. Sat. 3.14.7 (ORF2 fr.
30 p. 133). |[563]
ARMA Cf. on 1.912; Ovid Trist. 4.1.32 nec nisi lusura movimus arma manu, a
clearly mock-heroic conception.
4 sqq. Nisbet 237 suggests that commas should be placed after fritillo (5) and
gula (10), and a full stop after iuvenis (7), on the grounds that it is awkward that
the glutton should first be mentioned as a iuvenis (7) while his education as a puer
(11) is only mentioned later. 47 will then mean that when a father plays dice his
small son will do the same, and he will be no better as a young man. But this leaves
67 too weak, and Juvenal probably means that faults are ingrained in the puer
which become noticeable and ineradicable in the iuvenis.
7 RADERE TUBERA To peel truffles (Apicius 7.14 = 16.1), cf. on 5.116.

498A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

8 BOLETUM 5.147.
EODEM as the boleti; cf. boleti et ficedulae Suet. Tib. 42, uno iure perfusa Sen.
Ep. 95.28. Eadem 5 might suggest that the sense is the same as his father, but the
different form of this sentence discourages that.
MERGERE is usually taken to mean gulp down, cf. 11.40, but this would require some local modification like in ventrem there; rather it has the common culinary sense steep, which better balances radere and condire, though NATANTES
(cf. Hor. Serm. 2.8.42, Pers. 5.183) is then somewhat pleonastic.
FICEDULAS elsewhere has (cf. Mart. 13.5.1), as it should have (cf. acredula,
monedula, querquedula, nitedula; the quantity is documented in the first three);
but ficella (see the apparatus) is an unattested word (the text is uncertain at Lucil.
978) and Mart. 13.4850 has the sequence boleti, ficedulae, terrae tubera. For this
bird (the warbler or beccafico) as a food cf. Blmner1 178 n. 8, Andr 126, Kl. Pauly
s.v. Fliegenfnger.
NEBULONE GULA Hendiadys, taught (cf. 3) by the hoary gluttony of his
wastrel father. GULA is sometimes taken to mean glutton, cf. 5.158, 15.90 and
fossa 2.10; but CANA does not necessitate this, cf. 10.207 inguinis canities.
10 SEPTIMUS ANNUS Continually associated both with second teeth (dentes
cadere annis septimis Varro ap. Gell. 3.10.12; Pliny NH 7.68, Censorin. 14.7,
Plaut. Men. 1116 etc.; cf. W. H. Roscher Die Enneadischen und Hebdomadischen
Fristen (Abhl. Schs. Ges. 21.4, 1903) 64, J. Mansfeld The Pseudo-Hippocratic Tract
(1971) index p. 251 s.v. Teeth) and the beginning of formal education (Quintil. 1.1.1518, where see Colson; Plaut. Bacch. 440, Merc. 292 with
303), cf. Clarke 12. These are particular manifestations of the common division of
human life into seven-year periods (F. Boll Neue Jahrb. 31, 1913, 114 = Sternkunde
(1950) 186; Eyben Ancient Society 4, 1973, 228). |[564]
12 BARBATOS MAGISTROS Pers. 4.1; i.e. philosophers. Cf. on 4.103 and SG
3.230 = 3.258.
13 PARATU Val. Fl. 2.652 mensaeque paratu / regifico.
14 DEGENERARE is often applied ironically and meaning in effect improve;
but here the reader does not perceive this until the final word
CULINA (probably to be taken in the abstract sense cuisine, cf. Thes. s.v. 1288.68).
After 14 Housman rightly inserted 234; this makes Juvenal first ask in general
what advice such a father gives, then in particular whether he inculcates kindness.
Then in 1617 Bucheler equally rightly suggested utque putet, since the point
is not what Rutilus thinks but what he teaches by example, and putat comes awkwardly between praecipit and docet. The subject of PRAECIPIT is Rutilus, that of
PUTET is iuvenis.
23 IUVENI i.e. fl; cf. (107), 121, 191, 235, 251 and on 10.310.
STRIDORE CATENAE Cf. Verg. Aen. 6.558.
ADFICIUNT Pliny Ep. 3.1.9 Corinthia quibus delectatur nec adficitur. The pun-

SATIRE Fourteen499

ishments communicate adfectus (on 12.10).

INSCRIPTA is used as a noun by Gell. praef. 9 to mean titles; here it means
stigmata (10.183; cf. Thes. s.v. 1846.55, 1848.23, 1849.80, Blmner1 294, Marquardt
184). Mart. 8.75.9 has inscripti = , which suggested his conjecture to
Richards (CR1 2, 1888, 326; so Weidner also independently).
ERGASTULA (the ordinary cells in which the slaves slept), CARCER Cf. Livy
7.4.4 in opus servile, prope in carcerem atque in ergastulum; see on 6.151, 8.180. To
be sent to the ergastulum is in itself a punishment.
15 ERRORIBUS AEQUOS Sen. Dial. 4.10.7.
1617 NOSTRA Ablative fem. sing. For the thought cf. Sen. Ep. 47.10, Quintil.
3.8.31, Epictet. 1.13.3, Macrob. Sat. 1.11.6, Dion. Hal. AR 4.23, Philemon fr. 95 K = 4
p. 47 fr. inc. 39 M , and on 6.222; but note
Finley 88 the stress is on the masters moral obligation to behave, for his own
sake, with self-restraint and moderation, at least as much as on the humanity of
the slave. Like Quintilian (elementa), Juvenal uses Lucretian vocabulary (materia,
elementa); Senecas semina is Stoic (Pohlenz 2.50).
18 RUTILUS See on 11.2.
COMPARAT He thinks the sound of the lash sweeter than the song of any
Siren; cf. 12.121.
20 Carrying on the Odyssean allusion; Antiphates, king of the cannibal Laestry
gonians, and Polyphemus are coupled as if proverbial by Ovid Ex Ponto 2.2.11314.
Cf. 15.18. For the apposition followed by a further qualification (FELIX) cf. 269.
|[565]
21 TORTORE VOCATO Cf. Sen. Contr. 2.5.5 and on 6.480 and O.29.
ARDENTI FERRO i.e. lamminis, red-hot plates of metal used to burn the flesh;
cf. 6.624.
LINTEA Presumably he is being punished for negligently allowing the towels
(3.263) to be stolen at the baths, as they often were (Catull. 25, Digest 47.17); or
perhaps napkins are meant (cf. Catull. 12, Mart. 12.29).
234 See after 14.
2530 Cf. 6.23241 (especially EXPECTAS and HAC DICTANTE).
RUSTICUS EXPECTAS is from Hor. Epist. 1.2.42. Larga is like Oppia 10.220.
CONTEXERE CURSU This looks like a mixed metaphor, but probably CURSU is merely a faded one (cf. Sen. Contr. 1 pr. 18).
TER DECIENS 13 seems to appear only here in Latin as an indefinite number
(a dozen), though it is found in Greek; cf. RAC Dreizehn 314, Elmore and Postgate CR1 19, 1905, 4368.
NUNC When she is marita herself, no longer virgo.
CERAS (cf. 191 and on 1.63) PUSILLAS i.e. tabellae 6.233 and 277, 9.36 (Marquardt 804 n. 6); (Lucian De Merc. Cond. 36, Rhet. Praec. 23) or
(id. De Merc. Cond. 27). Such billets-doux (cf. 6.141) would naturally

500A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

be small for ready concealment, but line 5 makes me wonder if Juvenal has in
mind a child-bride. The legal minimum age for marriage was twelve, but it took
place even earlier in some cases (Hopkins Population Studies 18, 1965, 309; cf. SG
4.124 = 4.133 and 1.232 = 1.273, Blmner1 343, Salmon 40, Beard JRS 68, 1978, 202,
RAC Ehehindernisse 687, Bmer on Ovid Met. 9.714); the law did not admit adultery under this age (Ulpian Dig 48.5.14(13).8).
30 SDEM So Manil. 2.707 (mss. vary at Calp. Sic. 7.71); isdem is usual. Contrast dem 122.
DAT FERRE Cf. Thes. do 1688.67 and on 6.156.
CINAEDIS Cf. 6.O.1720 and Lucian De Merc. Cond. 27.
31 VELOCIUS ET CITIUS For the pleonasm cf. 2.34.
34 ARTE BENIGNA Val. Fl. 4.554.
35 TITAN Prometheus, cf. on 4.133, 8.133; LUTO china clay, cf. 6.13 and
Blmner2 2.8 n. 2. The word is commonly used of the creation of man by writers who wish to emphasise his humble origins (Otto s.v. 4, Pfeiffer on Callim. fr.
493, Bmer on Ovid Met. 1.823; cf. Gruppe 441, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes
1.16.1314, L. Schan Mythe de Promethe (1951) 33. MELIORE adds a further touch
of irony, cf. Headlam on Herodas 2.28 ; pimetheus
used deterior lutus, Claudian In Eutr. 2.496.
ET The ablatives coupled by this are dissimilar, cf. 13.145 and |[566] index s.v.;
e (ec Ribbeck) is unnecessary. FINXIT as a figulus.
PRAECORDIA (cf. 1.167) (cf. , ), the midriff, like the
cor itself (on 57) often considered the seat of mental and moral qualities (e.g. Ovid
Met. 11.149).
367 VESTIGIA Cf. 53 (ORBITA continues the metaphor); MONSTRATA cf.
3.
40 Sen. Dial. 12.10.10 (Apicius) cum iuventutem ad imitationem sui sollicitaret
etiam sine malis exemplis per se docilem.
TURPIBUS AC PRAVIS Neuter and either dative (as after indocilis Sil. It.
1.237, 11.11) or ablative (Pliny NH 10.120).
413 Sen. Ep. 97.10 omne tempus Clodios, non omne Catones feret. ad deteriora
faciles sumus (which in turn derives from Manil. 4.867). For CATILINA (8.231,
10.286) as a type-name cf. Thes. onom. s.v. 261.14, Otto Nachtrge 146; this use is
rare in the singular (6.345 and 656; Fordyce on Catull. 22.19). BRUTUS (5.37) is
an uncommon exemplum (Litchfield HSCP 25, 1914, 43) because tyrannicide is an
uncomfortable precedent under the Empire. BRUTI AVUNCULUS Cato (Thes.
avunculus 1608.27), whose half-sister Servilia was the mother of Brutus. The word
AVUNCULUS is considered beneath the dignity of epic by DServ. on Aen. 3.343,
and is here, as at 6.615, applied deflatingly, for the satirist is free to poke fun even
at the objects of his approval (cf. p. 24). At the same time the periphrasis of relationship (cf. 6.615) implies that virtus runs in this family, cf. p. 34.

SATIRE Fourteen501

AXE Quarter of the world (on 8.116).

44 DICTU FOEDUM VISUQUE Cf. 11.162 and the remarks in many educational treatises (Xen. Cyr. 7.5.86, Aristotle Pol. 7.17.1336b42 sqq., Tac. Dial. 28.5
and 29.1, Quintil. 1.2.8). One might also think of e.g. obscene paintings. DICTU is
explained by CANTUS 46, VISU by PUELLAE 45; the order is chiastic. The line is
slow and solemn, cf. 49.
PATER EST This is the correct reading; puer is due to 47, es to the second
persons in 38 and 42. Either ruins the effect which depends on
encountering pater est where we have been expecting puer est (PUERO in 47 is
also paradoxical). Not only the child, but the father too must be incorruptible (lest
the child should imitate his corruption, cf. 689).
HAEC Ordinarily used by Juvenal as the antecedent of the relative pronoun;
cf. on 7.41 and BICS 13, 1967, 49 n. 7. See further Thes. 6.3.2732.80, HS 181.
PROCUL A PROCUL We expect this to be followed by profani rather than
PUELLAE (6.127), cf. 2.89, Verg. Aen. 6.258 procul o procul este profani, Stat. Silv.
3.3.13, Sil. It. 17.27; Ovid Met. 15.587 procul a (variants o, hinc) procul omina
talia di pellant cf. Fasti 2.623. This |[567] is a formula of warning () for
dismissing those not qualified to be present at religious ceremonies (cf. Appel 83
and on 15.140); so we infer that a childs innocence is sacred. The exclamation A
indicates very strong emotion; it is generally too elevated for satire (cf. on 9.102),
though found at Pers. 1.8 and perhaps 3.16.
CANTUS PERNOCTANTIS PARASITI (1.139) Cf. 8.1012 and the obscena
cantica at convivia Quintil. l.c. on 44.
479 ANNOS and INFANS are emphatic; do not think your son too young to
be worth respect, but let even the babe in the cradle restrain your actions (a hyperbole). The thought is rammed home, but it is not merely repetitive.
REVERENTIA Quintil. 11.1.66 cuique personae debetur reverentia; Pliny Ep.
7.24.5; Maiestas comes pueris virginibusque venit Ovid Fasti 5.50; Plato quoted
by [Plut.] adduced in the introduction. Yet a paradoxical (on 45) effect is clearly
intended; contrast 13.549 (respect for elders).
PUERO Not a general reflection to any boy, but to your son, cf. 3.228.
TURPE Cf. 41; TU anybody, in admonitions (on 2.61).
PUEROS PUERI This is defensible, cf. on 16.910; but the second may be a
gloss which has ousted teneros (Quintil. 2.2.3 ut teneriores annos ab iniuria sanctitas docentis custodiat). Lucan 8.405 ends contempserit annos.
49 The spondees and the hiatus make this a solemn warning, cf. 44. Sen. Ep.
11.89 one should choose a model man and live as if under his eyes; magna pars
peccatorum tollitur si peccaturis testis adsistit. aliquem habeat animus quem vere
atur.
50 Under the empire no censors were elected, though Claudius and the Flavians (cf. 4.12 and DE 2.1601) took the title themselves; but Juvenal is using the

502A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

name simply as a fossil, cf. 2.121 and p. 24.

51 QUANDOQUE Cf. 2.82, 5.172; after si one might expect just quando (cf. 13.56
cuicumque). For se dare with adjective cf. Thes. do 1699.32 and compare 6.614c.
52 MORUM FILIUS (simius Withof) Heir to your vices. Cf. Pliny Ep. 5.16.9
and contrast Juv. 8.21. This phrase is in apposition to the subject of FECERIT and
DEDERIT, thus producing a slight anacoluthon; regular would be either sed etiam
morum filius fuerit or sed etiam morum filium. For NON TANTUM QUOQUE
KS 2.66 adduce Lucr. 4.507, Tac. Hist. 2.27; in general Silver Latin greatly varies
the non tantum sed etiam formula (cf. HS 518). For ET cf. on 229; it connects
FILIUS and QUI PECCET, both being adjectival.
53 OMNIA Internal accusative. |[568]
TUA PER VESTIGIA (36) Following in your footsteps.
55 TABULAS MUTARE Change your will (cf. 12.123), resulting in exheredatio
(cf. Gell. 1.6.8); for tabulae see on 4.19.
UNDE with the accusative; a similar ellipse is commoner with quo (8.9 and 142,
14.135, 15.61). Contrast the nominative 1.150, 9.8, 15.108.
FRONTEM Cf. 2.8, 13.242, frons paterna Calp. Sic. 4.21; cf. Ter. Phorm. 1042
quo ore illum obiurgabis? (in similar circumstances). LIBERTATEM .
57 PEIORA This contradicts deterius 53; Juvenal allows his tirade to carry him
into inconsistency (cf. p. 64 on nondum 1.114). Cf. Sen. Dial. 4.28.8 tempestiva filii
convivia pater deterior filio castigat; for SENEX cf. 4.
VACUUM CEREBRO Cf. Priscians variant at 15.23. Juvenal is not concerned
to decide the physiological question of the seat of intelligence as between heart (35,
7.159; ibi mens habitat Pliny NH 11.182) and brain (cf. Cic. Tusc. 1.19 with Pohlenz,
24, 41; Pliny NH 11.135 etc.), where others placed the seat of anger.
HOC istud would be plainer; cf. 9.6, 10.345, Thes. hic 2704.53, Enk on Prop.
2.9.26.
VENTOSA CUCURBITA A cupping-glass shaped like a gourd, which was applied to draw blood from the head in cases of derangement (cf. Petron. 90, Celsus
3.18 and on 6.46). Cf. J. S. Milne, Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times
(1907) 101. In late Latin ventosa was so used alone; Theodorus Priscianus refers to
the cupping-glass in both ways (Helmreich ALL 1, 1884, 3223). The name may
refer to the rush of air into the vacuum when the instrument is removed, or to the
production of a subcutaneous oedema (cf. Celsus 2.11.3) by application of a dry
cup, which some ancient medical theory would attribute to .
QUAERAT As its natural home.
59 sqq. A scene from comedy; cf. Plaut. Asin. 424 sqq., Bacch. fr. 34, Pseud. 161
sqq., Stich. 34757, fr. 146 Lindsay ap. Gell. 18.12.3; Titinius fr. 36 and 130; the anon.
fragment ap. Athen. 2.48a. Cf. Pliny Ep. 2.17.9 plerisque tam mundis ut accipere
hospites possint, and the lists of implements in Ulpian Dig. 33.7.12.22 and of slaves
in Cic. Parad. 37 (for scoparii sweepers see Marquardt 142 n. 3).

SATIRE FOURteen503

CUM TOTA TELA Web and all, cf. 6.171, 13.61; DESCENDAT cf. 10.58; ARANEA TELA ends the verse at Catull. 68.49, Ovid Met. 6.145, Mart. 8.33.15.
LEVE i.e. purum 9.141, 10.19; ASPERA cf. Thes. s.v. 809.10, Pliny NH 33.139 and
on 1.76, 5.38; for the contrast cf. Drexel Rm. Mitt. |[569] 367, 19212, 434, and for
the cleaning of silver D. E. Strong Greek and Roman Silver Plate (1966) 14.
VIRGAM Sen. Ep. 47.3, Amm. Marc. 14.6.17.
649 The thought is expressed paratactically; 647 are subordinate in sense.
STERCORE CANINO Because of the watch-dog (on 9.104, 6.415).
VENIENTIS AMICI 59.
PORTICUS At the back of the atrium (65), round the peristyle; cf. on 6.162.
SCOBIS This was left on the floor during the meal (Petron. 68, Hor. Serm.
2.4.81, Sen. Contr. 9.2.4) and then swept out.
EMENDAT Thes. s.v. 458.415; Us emundat has found some favour, but the
word is rare outside Columella (Thes. s.v. 541.39), and EMENDAT better suits the
application of the metaphor to the moral situation (note how LABE 69 can apply
both to physical, e.g. Pers. 3.25, and moral filth, and cf. Sen. Ep. 4.1).
OMNI He might have said ulla; cf. on 8.209. sine labe domus Ovid Tristia 2.110.
70 GRATUM Deserving of thanks; gratum est is normal for thank you (Thes.
s.v. 2261.35).
PATRIAE POPULOQUE Cf. Hor. Odes 3.6.20, Ovid Met. 15.572. The promotion of population growth was always a concern to ancient statesmen (notably
Augustus); the very word proletarii means breeders. Cf. 3.3 civem donare; Lucan
2.388; Cic. 2 Verr. 3.161 susceperas liberos patriae, Pro Clu. 32 quae designatum rei p. civem sustulisset (by abortion). Housman, who suggested that civis had
dropped out in 71 after -cis ut, objected to PATRIAE on its own in 71 preceded by
PATRIAE POPULOQUE here, but the implication of increasing the population
contained in POPULO would there be out of place (cf. patriae 8.28).
71 PATRIAE PS read the ablative, and Ad Herenn. 3.3.5 has res humiles contemnere oportere nec idoneas dignitate sua iudicare; but there the ablative follows
idoneus on the analogy of dignus, which is avoided because of dignitas, whereas here dignus substituted for idoneus would not make sense. Similarly par may
take an ablative when it is synonoimous with dignus (Plaut. Persa 834, Cic. De
Div. 2.114, Matius Ad Fam. 11.28.1) and apparently even when it is not (Ovid Fasti
4.306, 6.804; not however Sall. Hist. 4.4, in spite of Arusianus GLK 7.500). But this
is inadequate defence for the ablative here.
UTILIS See NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 1.12.42 and CIL 4.6668.
AGRIS sc. colendis.
745 Cf. RE Storch 69.10, Keller 2.193, Thompson1 223.
PER DEVIA RURA An Ovidian phrase (3 times): SUMPTIS cf. 3.80. |[570]
77 IUMENTO ET CANIBUS Their corpses, cf. Phaedr. 1.27, Obsequens 50.
CRUCIBUS On which the bodies of dead criminals would be left hanging

504A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

(Hor. Epist. 1.16.48 etc.).

80 Juvenal, like Ovid (Amores 1.12.20), was unaware that vultures nest in rocks,
not in trees.
81 LEPOREM Cf. Thes. aquila 370.30, LSJ ; Aesch. Agam. 118 and
the famous Sicilian coins mentioned by Fraenkel ad loc. IN SALTU is contrasted
with PER DEVIA RURA 75.
FAMULAE IOVIS Eagles (Thes. aquila 370.59): GENEROSAE AVES birds of
prey in general, contrasted with vultures.
HNC ex leporibus aut capreis; INDE ex cubili.
CUBILI might mean in the nest (cf. Verg. Georg. 1.141), but is more likely to
mean for its nestlings cf. 5.143. Then INDE introduces a shift in the meaning of
the word, cf. on 3.2612.
PONITUR Is served up, cf. 1.141 etc.
86 On aedificatio cf. 275, 1.94, SG 2.193 = 2.340, Balsdon1 209, Kroll2 1.97, NisbetHubbard intr. to Hor. Odes 2.18; the word aedificator Nepos Att. 13.1, Colum.
1.4.8.
CAETRONIUS A well-attested name (Schulze LEG 268 n. 4); Cetronius is
found CIL 6.25015, Cretonius ibid. 35067 (see the apparatus). There is a house of
a Caetronius at Pompeii (M. della Corte Case ed Abitanti2 (1954) p. 41). Ceronius
is implicit in CIL 10.407.
CURVO LITORE CAIETAE The sinus Caietanus; SG 1.332 = 1.401.
TIBURIS ARCE Cf. 3.192 (Praeneste 190); seu mihi frigidum / Praeneste seu
Tibur supinum Hor. Odes 3.4.224.
ALTA CULMINA VILLARUM Cf. Mart. 4.64.9.
GRAECIS MARMORIBUS Cf. 307, 7.182, 11.175, Marquardt 620, SG 2.189 =
2.336; LONGE PETITIS and therefore involving heavy transport costs (cf. Musonius p. 108.9 Hense).
FORTUNAE AEDEM The famous temples of Fortuna at Praeneste and
Hercules at Tibur. The order in relation to 878 is chiastic. Of course it would have
been tactless to mention Hadrians magnificent villa now being built at Tivoli.
VINCENS Cf. 2.143, Sen. De Ben. 7.10.5.
POSIDES A wealthy freedman of Claudius (Suet. 28), who evidently built a
lavish house near the temple of Capitoline Jupiter.
CAPITOLIA Poetic plural (10.65); NOSTRA contrasted with the foreign Posides (cf. Graecis longeque petitis).
92 DUM In a casual sense, cf. 95 and on 6.176.
94 HANC partem relictam; TURBAVIT conturbavit would be more specific
cf. 7.129 (turbare is used absolutely by Caelius Ad Fam. 8.8.2, |[571] but Shackleton
Bailey (vol. 1 p. 400) thinks it does not mean go bankrupt).
ATTOLLIT Cf. erexit 1.94.
96 The Jews were keen proselytizers (Sevenster 201 sqq.), though in fact in-

SATIRE Fourteen505

scriptions do not record many proselytes (La Piana Harv. Theol. Rev. 20, 1927, 390,
Sevenster 199, KittelFriedrich s.v. 7334), and there were many Jews
in Rome (3.14 and 296, 6.15960 and 543); cf. SG 3.170.86 = 3.202.19. The attitudes
expressed by Tac. Hist. 5.45 have much in common with those of Juvenal.
METUENTEM and 101 METUUNT J. Bernays in Comment. Mommsen (1877)
563 = Ges. Abhandl. 2.71 claimed that this was a technical term for Gentile sympathisers with the Jewish law, in Greek o () , but
this view is now discredited; see on the question Sevenster 198, Leon 253, Feldmann TAPA 81, 1950, 200, KittelFriedrich 731, 734, RE suppl. 9.1259,
Safrai and Stern (on 3.296) 2 (1976) 1158 n. 1, McEleney New Testament Studies 20,
1974, 325, Bellen JAC 89, 19656, 171. CIL 5.88 = CIJ 1.642 religioni<s> Iud<a>eicae metuenti refers to an actual Jewess. Metuens and metuens deum (Thes. s.v.
906.35 sqq.) simply refer to pious observers of any cult, pagan or not.
SABBATA Pers. 5.184 recutitaque sabbata palles; cf. sabbatarius Mart. 4.4.7.
For the see Nilsson 2.665, KittelFriedrich 1718.
97 Cf. on 6.545 and Florus there quoted; Anth. Lat. 696.12 Iudaeus licet
caeli summas advocet auriculas (Petronius), Strabo 16.2.35.761, Origen Contra
Celsum 5.6 sqq. and 41. In Hellenistic and later Hebrew literature the proper name
of God YHWA is avoided except in prayers, and Heaven is a frequent synonym
for it (cf. Bernays l.c. 568 = 78); this led to the attribution to the Jews of the worship of the sky (cf. Hengel 256 and 267). NUBES (cf. Psalm 18.1112) satirically
underlines the nebulous nature of such a god, which seemed strange to those used
to deities represented by anthropomorphic images (cf. Aristoph. Clouds 265 sqq.,
Tertull. Apol. 24.5).
98 Cf. 6.160, 15.1113.
99 Cf. Tac. l.c. Hadrians prohibition of circumcision (SHA 1.14.2) evidently
caused the Jewish revolt of 132 (Smallwood 429 and Latomus 18, 1959, 334 and 20,
1961, 92; Schrer 1.53640); from this we can infer a terminus ante quem for the
composition of this poem.
100 Tac. l.c. 5.1 pessimus quisque spretis religionibus patriis paid dues to Jerusalem; cf. also the edict of Claudius, Joseph. AJ 5.3.290.
101 Cf. legum Solymarum 6.544; iuste legem colens and observantia |[572] legis,
CIJ 72, 476; ( ) is common in Jewish sources, cf.
also Romans 2.17.
EDISCUNT (cf. 124) Joseph. Contra Apion 2.18.178.
102 Diod. Sic. 34.1.4
cf. 3. Misanthropy was a common reproach against the Jews (Sevenster
8294; RE suppl. 5.20.20; M. Radin The Jews among the Greeks and Romans (1915)
1826; . N. Sherwin-White Racial Prejudice (1967) 87).
ARCANO Juvenal is probably thinking merely of Jewish exclusivity; the Bible
was in no sense a secret book. Secret books under the name of Moses did circulate

506A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

in the ancient world for use in magic (see e.g. ButlerOwen on Apul. Apol. 90, J.
J. Gager Moses in Greco-Roman Paganism (1972) 1467), but Juvenal hardly has
these in mind.
VOLUMINE The Pentateuch, the roll of the Mosaic law.
MOYSES This should probably be spelt Moses (L. Mueller 311).
1034 These are the ordinary courtesies of humanity (Cic. De Or. 1.203, De Off.
1.512; Sen. De Ben. 4.29.1, Ep. 95.51; [Theocr.] 25.6); they were sanctioned at Athens
by the so-called curses of Buzyges (RAC Drohung 326, Hands 46, J. Bernays Ges.
Abhandl. 1.277, H. Bolkestein Wohlttigkeit und Armenpflege (1939) 69, Williams
Mnem.4 15, 1962, 396). Proverbs 5.1517 (this is not attributed to Moses, but Juvenal
would not have known or cared about this) gives some ground for the reproach
of 104, but Jewish authors defend themselves on these points; Philo Hypothetica
(Loeb ed. vol. 9 p. 426) (with Buzyges mentioned on
p. 428, cf. Colsons note p. 539); Joseph. Contra Apion. 2.29.211
, (the last also in AJ 4.8.31.276).
105 The son has gone beyond the father (96, 99). Grades of proselytes had
probably not been formalised in Juvenals time (Sevenster 198).
IGNAVA Cf. Tac. l.c. 4.3, Rutil. Nam. 1.391 septima quaeque dies turpi damnata veterno, Philo l.c. p. 432 Loeb ed., Agatharchides ap. Joseph. Contra Apion.
1.22.209 etc.; cf. RE suppl. 5.21.8. The laziness is pointed by torpid spondees.
VITAE The business of life; cf. Cic. De Off. 1.4.
107 Cf. Seneca quoted on 40.
108 Cf. Sen. Ep. 115.11. The line has only a quasi-caesura in ex-ercere; cf. 10.358.
109 UMBRA A faint resemblance, cf. Augustine Conf. 2.6.12 est quaedam defectiva species et umbratica vitiis fallentibus. This is an extension of the usage exemplified in Jerome Ep. 107.6.2 vitia non decipiunt nisi |[573] sub specie umbraque
virtutum. Avarice itself could be called an umbra (outline) of a virtus, cf. Ovid
Met. 9.461. The sentiment is commonplace.
110 Cf. 2.8.
11112 Cf. Quintil. 3.7.25 praecipit quia sit quaedam vitiis ac virtutibus vicinitas utendum proxima derivatione verborum ut pro avaro parcum vocemus; Hor.
Serm. 1.3.49, Tac. Hist. 1.37.4.
NEC DUBIE LAUDETUR i.e. et laudetur non dubie; for TAMQUAM see on
3.47.
RERUM TUTELA SUARUM Cf. Hor. Epist. 1.1.103 (and see on 288), Val. Fl.
5.644, Ovid Trist. 5.14.15.
HESPERIDUM SERPENS Cf. 5.152; PONTICUS which guarded the Golden
Fleece.
HUNC LOQUOR Any avarus; for the line-ending see on 5.86, for the enjambement p. 41.
ADQUIRENDI (for the absolute use see Thes. 427.65) contrasted with tuendi,

SATIRE Fourteen507

servandi (11213), as at 125 with sordes 124 and 126 sqq.

ARTIFICEM Cf. 4.18; PATRIMONIA See on 10.13.
HIS FABRIS Ablative abolute rather than dative of advantage. For the switch
to the plural cf. 1.1378 and index variation.
SED MODO should be placed within commas or brackets; a similar parenthesis with sed 3.232 (and sed damnatio 8.94 picks up damnante 93; but 8.202
should not be compared). But makes better sense than and moreover (on 4.26).
The line makes the point that they are unscrupulous (cf. 2047; Hor. Epist. 1.1.65
rem facias, rem, / si possis, recte, si non, quocumque modo rem, Pliny NH 7.140
pecuniam magnam bono modo invenire); this is not strictly relevant here, but Juvenal may be allowed to remark it in passing.
INCUDE (Otto s.v.) carries on the metaphor of FABRIS with a proverbial
phrase.
119 This line involves some abruptness, but it can hardly be spurious since its
removal brings yet greater abruptness between 118 and 120. A semi-colon must
be placed after putat 121 (not after avaros, since Juvenal is not speaking about
every father; nor after opes, since the relative clauses are inseparable). Housman
suggested iuvenes<que>, and one might consider reading qui pater et miratur.
It is advantageous to have animi avaros and nulla putat both as relative
clauses since otherwise the sentence becomes very tautologous, and, while as the
text stands et means as well as the populus 115 (cf. et ergo 1.15), Juvenal has not
in fact said that the populus regards avari as felices. In any case the sense demands
that HORTATUR remain a main verb.
BEATI PAUPERIS An oxymoron to this father, since beatus has |[574] acquired
overtones of wealthy (on 1.39). Sil. It. 1.609 castaque beatos / paupertate patres.
123 ELEMENTA , rudiments, alphabet; cf. Hor. Odes 3.24.51, Lucr. 1.81.
IMBUIT initiates; EDISCERE (cf. 101) as if they were children learning the
alphabet.
1234 are defined by 12637, 125 by 138 sqq.; see introduction. For SERVORUM
VENTRES cf. 3.167.
MODIO INIQUO Paulus Dig. 50.16.221; this is how the treats
his slaves (Theophr. Char. 30.11). The modius would be used to measure out their
rations (demensum; cf. H. Wallon Histoire de lEsclavage 2 (1879) 748, Marquardt
175, Blmner1 289). INIQUUS is a technical term for short measure (Thes. 1643.80).
127 OMNIA He does not eat up every crust at once, but keeps some for next
day.
MUCIDA Cf. 5.68; CAERULEI covered with bluemould.
HESTERNUM from the previous day, therefore stale (Thes. 2269.1); cf.
. Cf. Aristoph. Frogs 987; Suet. Tib. 34 and Vitell. 13.3 pridiana ac semesa
obsonia.
SERVARE Cf. Mart. 1.103.7, 3.58.42; the act of a sordidus.

508A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

MEDIO SEPTEMBRI Even though in this month, the hottest and most unhealthy at Rome, it is likely to go bad (4.59).
MINUTAL Mart. 11.31.11 and Apicius 4.3; hash, mince-meat.
CENAE ALTERIUS i.e. crastinae, cf. Mart. 1.103.8.
1313 Cheap foods; for CONCHIS cf. Andr 367, Blmner1 165 n. 17, for
LACERTI (a kind of mackerel) Andr 101, Blmner1 182 n. 7, Thompson2 ,
for SILURI on 4.33. Conchis and porrum (beans and leeks) go together 3.2934,
conchis and lacerti Mart. 7.78, porrum and lacerti Mart. 11.52.
AESTIVAM i.e. aestate (on 1.28), when it will not keep.
SIGNATAM Locked up and sealed (Mart. 9.87.7, Pliny NH 33.26) to prevent pilfering by slaves; cf. Theophr. Char. 18.4 (?),
Aristoph. Thesm. 41828, Plaut. Cas. 144, Persa 267, Diog. Laert. 4.59, Stobaeus
3.284.14, Lucian Hermotim. 11.
SILURO This putrefied easily; Sopater ap. Athen. 6.230e, Diodor. ibid. 239e.
NUMERATA Cf. Theophr. 30.16, Lucian l.c.
FILA blades Mart. 11.52.6, 13.18.1;. Thes. 762.41.
SECTIVI Cf. 3.293, Andr 28, Blmner1 166, Pliny NH 19.108.
134 DE PONTE Cf. on 4.116, 5.8.
NEGABIT Of declining an invitation, Hor. Epist. 1.7.63, Mart. 2.69.8; cf. 6.O.15.
1367 Cf. Hor. Serm. 2.3.10710. |[575]
PHRENESIS Mart. 4.80.1 and medical writers (cf. Celsus 3.18.1), and implicit in
phreneticus; but in Greek, the proper form (D. M. Paschall Vocabulary of
Mental Aberration (1939) 75).
138 Heinrich suggested dum, cf. 8.155.
139 Cf. Hor. Odes 3.16.1718, Ovid Fasti 1.21112, Sen. De Ben. 2.27.3 etc. and on
328 sqq.
PARATUR Is bought, cf. 200, 3.224 etc. Wealthy Romans usually owned a
considerable number of villas, cf. 275, 10.225, SG 1.329 = 1.398, 2.193 = 2.339.
142 sollicitat ipsa pulchritudo iungendi Pliny Ep. 3.19.2 (White BICS 14, 1967,
70); but Pompey never bought a conterminus ager (Pliny NH 18.35).
VICINA Of your neighbour, cf. Ovid AA 1.34950, Pers. 6.1314. For the
line-ending see on 5.86.
144 ARBUSTA Vineyard; strictly the trees on which the vines were trained
(Thes. 430.35). A simpler word-order would be montem densa (cf. Sil. It. 1.158 qui
riguo perfunditur auro, / campum, atque illatis Hermi flavescit harenis); Juvenal
apparently wishes to have the syntactically agreeing words at the caesura and the
end of the line. [Addendum, originally on p. 623: See Munro on Lucr. 3.843; 145
also places syntactically agreeing words at caesura and the end of the line.] OLIVA
might be collective singular (cf. on 15.76), but DENSA can be used in the singular
like multus (many a) cf. 1.120. CANET describes the greyish colour of the ol-

SATIRE Fourteen509

ive-leaf (Stat. Theb. 3.466 etc.).

145 QUORUM DOMINUS go together. Cf. Sen. Ep. 90.39 licet agros agris adiciat, vicinum vel pretio pellens vel iniuria (cf. 151). For such aggrandisement cf.
16.3640, Mart. 2.32.3, Apul. Met. 9.35, Yeo TAPA 79, 1948, 283; an instance in Pap.
Merton 92 (A.D. 324). The Twelve Tables (8.7 and 9 FIRA 1 p. 55) forbade practices
such as this.
VINCITUR MITTENTUR For the tenses see on 3.239.
MACRI COLLO (8.66) Starved and hard-worked between the shafts, and
therefore likely to eat more; SAEVOS = ravenous, cf. 5.94 and Hor. Serm. 2.8.5.
BOVES are the breeding bulls, IUMENTA those used for traction; cf. Colum.
6.19.1.
INDE sc. abibunt from mittentur.
ACTUM i.e. rem actam.
151 He has to sell, as he has no income once his crops have been ruined.
152 QUI SERMONES Cf. 10.88; FOEDE FAMAE cf. 1; BUCINA cf. Cic. Ad
Fam. 16.21.2 (praeconia famae is similarly used).
153 The character hears and answers the poets words of 152; cf. 10.291. For INQUIT cf. on 8.44; here it introduces a retort, cf. Housman on Manil. 4.869.
TUNICAM LUPINI A pea-pod; tunica is often so used in Pliny NH, |[576] cf.
LSJ IV 1; cf. Stat. Silv. 4.9.30 bulborum tunicas mihi malo. For the sentiment
cf. 1.48 etc.
156 Cf. Hor. Epist. 1.2.479. DEBILITATE Bodily injury, 10.227.
15960 For latifundia cf. Sen. Contr. 5.5; Sen. Dial. 3.21.2, Ep. 89.20 and White
l.c. on 142.
CULTI Not grazing land.
SUB TATIO Cf. Ovid Med. Fac. 11, AA 3.118; this avoids Rml, cf. 10.73.
162 MOX subsequently, as usual. MOLOSSOS Cf. 12.108.
163 IUGERA BINA Traditionally mentioned as the amount of land (a heredi
um; 100 heredia = 200 iugera = 1 centuria) allotted to the first Roman colonists,
though it can hardly have been the whole of their allotment; cf. RSV 1.98 n. 1,
RE centuria 1960, coloniae 5745, Brunt1 296, E. T. Salmon Roman Colonisation
(1969) 21, R. Werner Beginn der Rm. Republik (1963) 450, Hopkins 21, Dilke
179, Kl. Pauly s.v. Erbrecht 348, Frayn G & R2 21, 1974, 15, Ogilvie on Livy 4.47.7.
Plut. Apophth. Rom. 194e Curius
; Pliny NH 18.18 reporting this mentions seven iugera.
165 i.e. minor quam pro meritis cf. on 4.66. Cf, Plancus Ad Fam. 10.9.3 nihil
exigue a patria civi tributum potest videri.
NULLI nullis (see the apparatus) is due to meritis; Juvenal does not use the
plural of this word as a pronoun (Housman).
166 CURTA FIDES breach of faith is the predicate.
SATURABAT fed cf. 8.118; GLEBULA Petron. 57.6, Apul. Met. 9.35.

510A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

TURBAM CASAE All the inhabitants of the cottage, not necessarily many; cf.
Stat. Silv. 4.8.43 (of two sons), Mart. 10.61.5 and for the application of turba to the
family circle see Winnington-Ingram CR2 5, 1955, 140.
1689 Pliny NH 33.26 in the old days there were few slaves (cf. the proportions
here) and omnem victum in promiscuo habebant; for the intimate upbringing of
vernae cf. Blmner1 288 n. 7, Marquardt 167, Bonner 36 and see what Tac. Germ.
20.1 says of that race in a passage of similar import.
DOMINI Cf. Tac. Dial. 29 coram infante domino, Plaut. Capt. 18; comic slaves
speak of their minor erus (Thes. 5.2.849.18).
UXOR FETA In those days women did not shrink from childbirth (cf. 6.594).
1701 Since they are grown-up and have been working all day, they need a
larger meal.
A SCROBE VEL SULCO From digging or ploughing.
PULTIBUS (cf. 11.58) OLLAE Mart. 13.8 imbue pultibus ollas, Varro Sat.
Men. 190, Blmner1 1545. |[577]
HORTO Kitchen-garden.
MODUS The technical term, Thes. 1252.77, Pliny NH 18.7, Hor. Serm. 2.6.12.
173 INDE From such greed; Tac. Hist. 4.13.1 inde causae irarum. Sen. Dial. 5.33.1
(pecunia) venena miscet, gladios percussoribus tradit.
MISCUIT AUT GRASSATUR (3.305) For the mingling of gnomic present and
perfect cf. 3.160, 6.361, 10.9 sqq. Tac. Ann. 15.60.2 ut ferro grassaretur, quando
venenum non processerat.
178 AVARI A noun, cf. on 2.9.
179 CASULIS Cf. 9.60 (where however they are toys).
ISTIS Probably these cf. 6.295 and on 4.67.
MARSUS (3.169) HERNICUS VESTINUS These tribes fought bravely
against Rome and, after their subjection, for her; cf. Enn. Ann. 276, Strabo 5.4.2.241.
1824 NUMINA RURIS Ceres and Tellus (Verg. Georg. 1.7, Ovid Fasti 1.6716
etc.); cf. on 6.10, 13.57.
POST MUNUS sc. datum, cf. on 15.99.
VETERIS Which had long been their food.
185 FECISSE To be guilty of (6.638); but independently of this special sense velle
followed by a perfect infinitive is common in legal contexts (HS 3512, Daube1 37).
PERONE A heavy boot worn e.g. by farmers; Pers. 5.102, RE s.v. (5), Blmner1
226, Marquardt 590. The Hernici (180) wear them at Verg. Aen. 7.690. Cf. the
caligae 3.322.
SUMMOVET Sen. Dial. 12.10.2 frigus submoveri vult (corpus), Lucan 2.384.
INVERSIS With the fur inwards for greater warmth; cf. Blmner2 1.2602
(who however wrongly refers qui to perone).
187 PEREGRINA Especially Tyrian.
QUAECUMQUE EST implies the same as IGNOTA; this old Roman has never

SATIRE Fourteen511

seen what he is talking about.

PURPURA (cf. 1.27, 7.134, 4.31, 12.39) stands for fine raiment as opposed to
the skins of beasts, cf. Lucr. 5.1423 (Duff).
189 PRAECEPTA sc. dabant.
VETERES probably means old men (cf. senex 181) contrasted with minoribus;
if it meant men of old, antiqui would be more usual. NUNC contrasts not with
this but with ILLI (those of olim 180).
190 POST FINEM AUTUMNI At the beginning of winter, when the night becomes longer; the boy expects to be able to sleep later because it is dark in the
mornings.
MEDIA DE NOCTE Censorin. 24.2 tempus quod (mediae nocti) proximum est
vocatur de media nocte. The elder Pliny lucubrare Vulcanalibus (August |[578] 23)
incipiebat statim a nocte multa, hieme vero ab hora septima, saepe sexta (Pliny
Ep. 3.5.8); cf. 7.222, Blmner1 37980. This passage is modelled on Pers. 5.132 sqq.
(cf. on 279, 292); cf. CEL 36 = CIL 9.2749, Sen. Dial. 1.2.5 patres excitari iubent
liberos ad studia obeunda mature. See on 8.47.
SUPINUM Hor. Serm. 1.5.19.
191 CERAS Writing-tablets.
CAUSAS AGE i.e. exercise as a barrister; PERLEGE LEGES or as a jurisconsult.
RUBRAS Because the titles of laws were written in red; cf. rubrica and RE s.v.,
Blmner1 471 n. 7, Marquardt 824, Paulus Dig. 43.1.2.3. At Petron. 46 a father like
this says emi nunc puero aliquot libra rubricata quia volo illum aliquid de iure
gustare.
193 VITEM Of a centurion; 8.247, RSV 2.375 n. 1, Pliny NH 14.19 centurionum
in manu vitis opimo praemio tardos ordines ad lentas perducit aquilas (cf. Juv.
197); SHA 1.10.6 Hadrian nulli vitem nisi robusto daret.
LIBELLO A petition sent to the ab epistulis (Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep.
10.47.2); some such petitions are mentioned in Pliny Ep. 10. Cf. Stat. Silv. 5.1.95,
the duty of the ab epistulis is pandere quis centum valeat frenare, maniplos / inter
missus eques, where the reference is to centuriones ex equite Romano (cf. Birley
122, DomaszewskiDobson xx, DobsonBreeze Epigr. Studien 8, 1969, 109, Stein
136). Presumably that is the situation of this boy; an eques who wanted to spend
his whole life in the army might have no other way of doing so.
[Addendum, originally on p. 623: 1937 See B. Dobson Die Primipilares (1978)
364 on centuriones ex equite R., 65 on aquila, 60 on sexagesimus annus.]
1945 would be best put in parenthesis. Neglect of personal toilet would make
him fit to join the gens hircosa centurionum (Pers. 3.77); cf. grandes surae 16.14,
Ovid AA 1.520 inque cava nullus stet tibi nare pilus.
BUXO Comb (Ovid Fasti 6.229, Mart. 14.25); cf. RE pecten (7), Blmner2 2.254 n. 2.
LAELIUS The person who promotes his petition, like Pliny at Ep. 6.25.3; cf.

512A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

SHA 8.1.5.
196 The boy is to traverse the empire from North to South. There is an allusion
to revolts at the beginning of Hadrians reign, both suppressed by A.D. 123 (though
Birley 25 and 37 thinks that there may have been a later outbreak in Britain; cf.
Jarrett and Mann, Bnner Jahrb. 170, 1970, 185); see CAH1 11.313. That in Britain,
where Hadrian was present in 122 after its suppression, caused the building of his
wall, of which one of the functions was to facilitate the control of the turbulent
and ever-resurgent Brigantians (CAH1 11.153), cf. Frere (on 4.141) 126. These revolts are further discussed in RE Mauretania 2375; P. Romanelli Storia delle Provincie Romane dell |[579] Africa (1959) 332; W. Weber Untersuchungen zur Gesch.
des Kaisers Hadrianus (1907) 52, 109, 117; Strack 2.6980; Syme JRS 52, 1962, 87.
ATTEGIAS A foreign word, found elsewhere only CIL 13.6054 = ILS 3204.
Delgado Boletim de Filologia 10, 1949, 64 points to the Byzantine Greek ,
the Calabrian nteia, and the Berber adege.
BRIGANTUM This tribe covered most of the northern six counties of England
(RichmondOgilvie on Tac. Agr. 17.1 and 31.4, Birley 31, Richmond JRS 44, 1954,
44); but in fact they had very few forts (Frere l.c. 55).
197 LOCUPLETEM (enriching) AQUILAM A well-paid post as primipilus
(cf. 10.94), senior centurion of a legion, who had charge of the standard since it
was in the care of the first cohort (RSV 2.354 n. 1; add Dion. Hal. AR 10.36.6, Veget.
2.6). This was the peak of a non-commissioned military career (cf. Veget. 2.21); for
the pay cf. Brunt PBSR 18, 1950, 67, RSV 2.377 n. 1, Dobson Ancient Society 3, 1972,
197 and 203, Papinian Dig. 34.4.23, Pliny quoted on 193, SG 1.194 = 1.223. There
were also generous donatives (cf. Suet. Cal. 44.1).
SEXAGESIMUS ANNUS The age when many people retired, cf. 13.16, Sen.
Dial. 10.3.5. For soldiers and centurions of advanced age cf. Balsdon1 190, Dobson
ANRW 2.1.411, Birley Carnuntum Jahrb. 19634, 31 and 33; e.g. CIL 3.11031, 13.6728.
Cf. Pliny l.c., Sen. Ep. 101.6 castrensium laborum tarda manipretia.
199 [Aristotle] Probl. 27.10, Plut. Aratus 29.45; cf. Aristoph. Frogs 479.
CORNUA CUM LITUIS The former was curved at both ends like a C, the
latter at one end like a tobacco-pipe (Mayor); cf. Sen. Oed. 732. The bucina was
straight, opening out at the end into a bellshape like a modern oboe, and the tuba
was also straight and expanded all the way down in a cone shape, like a screw shell;
cf. on 2.118. See Wille 78 sqq., Fleischhauer 13 and 649, Baudot 2933, Kromayer
Veith 323, Webster (introduction to Sixteen) 141, Speidel Bnner Jahrb. 176, 1976,
147 (correcting previous views about bucina and tuba).
PARES You must buy, cf. 140.
201 PLURIS DIMIDIO (abl. of measure of difference) At a profit of 50 per cent;
Suet. Vesp. 16.1 negotiationes quoque vel privato pudendas propalam exercuit, coemendo quaedam tantum ut pluris postea distraheret.
202 Businesses causing pollution, e.g. tanning (cf. CORIUM), were confined to

SATIRE Fourteen513

the right bank of the Tiber; cf. Mart. 6.93.4 (and sulphur id. 1.41.3), CIL 6.111718,
Loane 77.
203 NEU Cf. KS 1.194.
2045 Alluding to the remark of Vespasian (Suet. 23 = Dio Cass. |[580] 66.14.5)
that money derived from the tax on urine did not smell. Some Roman houses invoke Lucrum (278, 13.24) in decorative inscriptions (CIL 10.8746; Meiggs
231).
206 ATQUE And indeed; cf. Cic. In Catil. 1.11 and KS 2.25. is
good enough for Apollo (11.27), but this (cf. 8.125) is worthy of Apollos
father himself.
207 A quotation of unknown origin; cf. Sen. Ep. 115.14 with the Greek original,
Fr. Trag. Adesp. 147 Nauck. See on 3.143.
HABEAS HABERE The verb is often applied absolutely to avarice; cf.
10.90, Thes. 2400.9.
For a father like this cf. [Plato] Eryxias 396bc, Plut. De Cupid. Divit. 7.526c
(the consequence being that his son desires his death 526d, cf. Juv. 246 sqq.).
2089 These lines were the sequel of 207 in its original context, whatever that
was. Here they are quite out of place, and do not come suitably either from the
father or the poet.
ASSAE Dry nurses, Thes. s.v. 940.33 (quae lac non praestat infantibus , who
quotes a hexameter <hoc> nutricula sicca vetusta infantibus monstrat, doubtless
Lucilius). For the moral influence of nurses cf. Quintil. 1.1.4 and 16, [Plut.] De Lib.
Educ. 5.3e, Tac. Dial. 29.1 (where however erroribus mainly applies to the paedagogus, as fabulae to the nurse).
MONSTRANT Cf. 10.363.
REPENTIBUS Quintil. 1.2.6, Stat. Th. 9.427.
209 Cf. the epigram of Aratus, GowPage HE 767; the word alphabetum is late,
though is found from the fourth century B.C. Cf. Quintil. 1.1.12 a
sermone Graeco puerum incipere malo, 1.4.1; CIL 6.33929.
211 For the address to the father cf. 5.107.
212 FESTINARE Cf. 1768; PRAESTO I guarantee. Cf. 1.71 and the line quoted
by Cic. Ad Fam. 9.7.2 and Lucillius AP 11.176.5 (Nauck Trag. Frag.3 p. 861)
.
213 ABI Leave him to himself.
21314 From Ovid Met. 15.856; the elevation of the comparison accentuates the
ignominy of its setting.
215 Verg. Georg. 2.363 parcendum teneris; young children are tender plants.
21516 Cf. Sen. Dial. 3.16.2; nequitiae malis Phaedr. 3.8.15.
IMPLERE infect (cf. Livy 4.30.8), like .
21617 CULTRI A knife or shears (Thes. s.v. 1317.31, Blmner1 2689), not a
razor; the allusion is to trimming, not to shaving, the beard. The barbae depositio

514A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

would take place probably with the assumption of the toga virilis; cf. on 4.103. |[581]
LONGAE sc. barbae (PF actually read longe, not -ae).
218 vendunt periuria Ovid Amores 1.10.37.
219 ET is usually taken to mean even, because an oath by a deity who presided over mysteries would be especially solemn (cf. 3.144, Plut. Dion 56.34, Justin 22.2.8, [Moschus] Megara 75); but it might merely connect the two adverbial
phrases SUMMA EXIGUA and TANGENS, cf. 2.98. In either case the allusion is
Greek, not Roman.
TANGENS ARAM Cf. 13.89, 3.1445 etc.; but this perjurer goes so far as to
touch the foot of the goddess, cf. Wagenvoort 48 n. 1 and RAC Contactus 411.
-QUE -QUE Cf. 222 and on 5.49.
220 ELATAM 1.72.
VESTRA Of you and your son; they all live together, cf. Marquardt 58, Sen.
Contr. 1.6.1. The crossing of the limen was a solemn part of the marriage ritual
(Blmner1 360, Marquardt 55).
221 PREMETUR Ovid Met. 9.78.
223 ADQUIRENDA A thematic word (115, 125, 238). Anquirenda (see the apparatus) goes better with TERRAQUE MARIQUE (for which cf. Christensen ALL
15, 1908, 200), and one might compare Florus 2.25.12 (aurum) gens omnium
cupidissima anquirit (ad- codd.); but the word is rare outside Cicero, Livy and
Tacitus.
PUTAS One might look for a tu to contrast with ILLI, but see on 3.41.
VIA lucri vias Sen. De Ben. 7.26.4.
226 CAUSA ET ORIGO PENES Livy 28.27.11, cf. Tac. Ann. 4.1.1. For the general sentiment cf. Sen. Ep. 115.11
229 It is inconceivable that this line, nonsensical in itself, should be an interpolation; its omission in is due merely to homoeoarchon or an attempt to restore
sense. Nor can CONDUPLICARI be taken as depending on PRAECEPIT, because
PER FRAUDES is then nonsensical (non de fraudulento patre haec dicuntur, cui
sane non displiciturus erat fraudulentus factus filius, verum de avaro, qui filium,
dum avarum ac sui similem efficere studet, fraudulentum efficit invitus Housman).
Housman is right in supposing a lacuna after this verse, for which he suggested
<cum videant, cupiant sic et sua conduplicari>; for successive lines with the same
ending cf. 7.1434, 5.1478, for CONDUPLICARI Lucr. 3.70 divitias conduplicant,
for avaros ET qui cupiant 52, 5.54, 6.399, 7.21112, 8.262, HS 561.
LAEVO i.e. sinistro, perverse.
PRODUCIT 6.241, 8.271; for the change of tense after PRAECEPIT cf. 2.847,
12.627, 13.2930 and 21718.
230 Cf. Verg. Aen. 5.818, Sil. It. 8.280 and often metaphorically (e.g. Aen.
12.499).
TOTAS Cf. on 8.255.

SATIRE Fourteen515

CURRICULO i.e. equis; cf. currus Verg. Georg. 1.514. |[582]

QUEM This is most easily interpreted if we believe the grammarians who allege the existence of a masculine curriculus; they declare that this form, perfectly
regular in itself, was used by Cicero and Varro (Thes. 1505.60). Otherwise one will
have to assume reversion from pueros 228 to the singular illi 223.
233 TANTUM QUANTUM and no more.
ADEO may carry the sense of immo (Pliny NH 35.55, Sen. De Ben. 4.17.2, and
similarly sometimes atque adeo, cf. OLD s.v. 6). Herwerdens ideo gives the wrong
emphasis.
INDULGENT sc. omnes from NEMO; cf. on 6.18.
237 ET (SPOLIARE) both; the apodosis begins here.
SPOLIARE 1.46; CIRCUMSCRIBERE 10.222, 15.136; CRIMINE 1.75.
DECIORUM See on 8.254.
240 SI GRAECIA VERA 10.174.
MENOECEUS Stat. Th. 10.628782.
2412 He corroborates his doubts of the veracity of Greece by sarcastically
suggesting that these are everyday occurrences at Thebes. Cf. Ovid Met. 3.10410
(clipeata).
QUORUM sc. Thebanorum, implicit in THEBAS; cf. KS 1.30, HS 4389, Lf
stedt 2.140, McCartney CP 14, 1919, 197 and 18, 1923, 290.
DENTIBUS Ablative after nascuntur, cf. KS 1.375, HS 104.
TUBICEN Cf. 1.169, 15.52.
244 ERGO resumes 238, cf. igitur 6.92. See Otto scintilla and Nachtrge 297.
246 NEC TIBI probably means not even you. Cf. on 207.
2467 This allegory might have been expressed as a simile, cf. 8.130, 9.126. Cf.
Aristoph. Frogs 14312 of Alcibiades (and see Fraenkel comm. on Aesch. Agam. p.
342), Stat. Ach. 1.858 sqq., Mart. Spect. 10.1; Lucan 4.242 in a similar context a trepido vix abstinet ira magistro (trainer). CAVEA may mean either cage or arena.
For FREMITU cf. 8.37, for LEO ALUMNUS index nouns.
248 MATHEMATICIS See on 6.553; GENESIS 6.579. The son has consulted
the astrologers about his fathers death (such consultations were common; see
on 6.565 and cf. 3.43, SG 1.186 = 1.21314), but cannot wait so long and resorts to
poison. Cf. Ovid Met. 1.148 filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos, Fasti 2.625;
Daube2 8890.
GRAVE COLUS The opposite of a dutiful son, Stat. Silv. 3.3.20.
STAMINE NONDUM ABRUPTO By Atropos; cf. 3.27, 10.252, 12.65, Stat. Th.
8.1213, Val. Fl. 6.645. Unnatural death was often described as death ante fatum
(Shackleton Bailey on Prop. 3.5.18, Schulze 140, J. ter Vrugt-Lenz Mors Immatura
(1960) 63, Nordens edition of Aen. 6 pp. 1213; cf. on 12.63). |[583]
VOTA MORARIS Vell. Pat. 2.67.2 and four times in the Ovidian corpus.
LONGA Too long (6.221 and often); cf. Stat. Silv. 3.3.1415.

516A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

251 CERVINA A common belief (Hesiod fr. 304 MerkelbachWest; see

the context in Plut. De Def. Orac. 11.415d) though denied by Aristotle Hist. An.
6.29.578b23; cf. Otto (with Nachtrge 147, 265) and Thes. (952.23) cervus, Frazer on
Paus. 8.10.10 and add now Epigr. Bob. 62 quoted on 12.128.
252 ARCHIGENEN Any doctor; cf. on 13.98.
MITHRIDATES On 6.661; Mithridatios antidotos Gell. 17.66.6; Pliny NH
29.24 Mithridatium antidotum ex rebus liv componitur (is compounded; the usual word of drugs), cf. 23.149. He discovered the herbs Mithridatia (Pliny 25.62 and
127) and Eupatoria (ibid. 65). See T. Reinach Mithridate Eupator (1890) 2835. He
too had reason to fear his sons, Machares and Pharnaces.
2534 Cf. 10.250 (and with cervina cf. the equally Hesiodic cornix 10.247).
FICUS Another autumn (Hor. Epist. 1.7.5, cf. Cato De Agr. 56), ROSAS another
spring (Cic. 2 Verr. 5.27).
MEDICAMEN 6.661; alternatively he might use a praegustator (6.633).
255 A father no less than a king; English would reverse the Latin order, cf. on
11.99.
2567 Cf. Hor. Serm. 2.8.79, Pliny Ep. 4.25.4, Juv. 5.157. This is a Democritean
attitude (10.2853). MONSTRO Cf. 10.363.
SPECTES Like a spectator at the theatre; cf. on 264.
PRAETORIS See on 8.194; LAUTI cf. 11.1.
DOMUS i.e. rei domesticae; AERATA ARCA See on 11.26.
260 Money was frequently deposited in temples (Vidal Rev. Hist. Droit 43,
1965, 548; e.g. Cic. Ad. Fam. 5.20.5), particularly that of Castor and Pollux in the
forum because of its huge podium with many chambers (PlatnerAshby 104; Pernice ZRG 19, 1898, 115; Richter Jahrb. Deutsch. Arch. Inst. 13, 1898, 111; cf. Nash 1 pp.
21013). This was also the banking quarter (cf. on 10.25 and Blmner1 652 n. 1); for
the procurator ad Castoris see Sherwin-White on Pliny Ep. 8.6.13.
AD CASTORA Ad may be equivalent to apud, or Castora may be equivalent to
templum Castoris (see on 9.24 and contrast ad Castoris in the previous note and
commonly). The temple of Castor and Pollux is often referred to simply as that
of Castor (PlatnerAshby 1023, Latte 173, Bell 4, Hadzsits in Classical Studies in
Honor of J. C. Rolfe (1931) 101).
VIGILEM Guarded by sentries; for such guards on temples cf. SG 3.166 = 3.198.
For the transferred epithet cf. 3.275, 8.158. |[584]
261 GALEAM PERDIDIT Marx on Plaut. Rud. 801, where the same phrase is
found, suggests that it is proverbial (lost his shirt); but here the literal sense too
is included, cf. 13.1502. SUAS nedum alienas (Hor. AP 329 rem poteris servare
tuam). The Ultor cannot ulcisci.
262 The ludi Florales (6.250) 28 April3 May, Ceriales 1219 April, Megalenses
(11.193) were all now scaenici, though the Ceriales had not originally been so (Tac.
Hist. 2.55; cf. le Bonniec (on 9.24) 319).

SATIRE Fourteen517

AULAEA Cf. 6.67; RELINQUAS cf. 6.87.

264 HUMANA NEGOTIA is the subject, LUDI the predicate; Tac. Ann. 3.18
ludibria rerum mortalium cunctis in negotiis. Lifes a stage to the ancients too; see
e.g. Cic. Cato 5, 64, 85, Otto Nachtrge 44, 120, 187 and on 2567 above.
265 PETAURO (see RE s.v. and LSJ and its cognates) A kind of
spring-board (trampolin) or see-saw used by acrobats, cf. Housman on Manil.
5.438 sqq., Blmner Sitzb. Mnch. Akad. 1918, Abhl. 6 (Fahrendes Volk im Altertum) 12 (who wrongly thinks of a trapeze), Mehl Mitteil. des Vereins klass. Phil. in
Wien 6, 1929, 28. Hence petauristes, petauristarius (Blmner1 615 n. 15). See Frei
Korsunsky 59; Lucil. 1298 is of uncertain interpretation.
266 Cf. 272, a funambulus or schoenobates (3.77) ; he comes down from the roof
of the theatre on the tight (RECTUM) rope or catadromus (Paulus Dig. 19.1.54 pr.;
hence catadromarius CIL 6.10157). Cf. Blmner Fahrendes Volk 14.
267 To moralists (e.g. Sen. Dial. 10.2.1), poets (Smith on Tib. 1.3.39 sqq.; often
in Horace), agriculturalists (e.g. Colum. 1 pr. 8) and rhetoricians (e.g. Nicolaus
Progymn. 9.6, vol. 1 p. 347 Walz) the merchant is a recurrent symbol of greed
because of the attitude discussed on 11.117; cf. Roug 11 sqq. and Pers. 6.75 sqq.
and l.c. on 190, T. Heydenreich Tadel und Lob der Seefahrt (1970) 32, Morford (on
12.234) 29.
CORYCIA Though Corycus had a ship-building industry (ES 4.837), this is
certainly a transferred epithet; the Corycian cave in Cilicia was the source of the
best saffron (269; cf. Pliny NH 21.31, Strabo 14.5.5.6701, RE 4, ES 4.615,
Blmner3 30).
HABITAS The ship is his home.
CORO (10.180) The WNW wind. Both this (Sen. NQ 5.16.5 etc.) and auster, the
S wind (5.100, 12.69, Hor. Serm. 1.1.6 etc.), could be stormy.
TOLLENDUS The gerundive here, 314 and 12.61 is often taken in the sense of
a future participle passive (sometimes also at 3.56, 8.18); but this is not necessary,
and this usage is not established until after Juvenals time (HS 374, KS 1.7334).
PERDITUS In spite of 268 this is hardly likely to mean that he cries |[585] perii
(cf. 6.476), which would here be premature. It means reckless, cf. 275, 5.130, 3.73;
VILIS then can comfortably mean contemptible (Hor. Odes 3.27.57, Epist. 2.1.38),
and I cannot think why Housman, whose emendation is quite impossible, dismisses this as irrelevant. For the double qualification (TOLLENDUS and PERDITUS AC VILIS) cf. 18 sqq., 4.11518.
SACCI OLENTIS Full of perfumed saffron; succi Scholte, but Juvenal was perhaps thinking of sack.
270 ANTIQUAE Famed in ancient legend; cf. Lucan 3.185.
PASSUM Raisin wine, made of grapes spread out (pando) in the sun to dry;
from Crete Pliny NH 14.81 (a certain emendation; see Andr), 20.208, Mart.
13.106, Athen. 10.440e.

518A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

PINGUE Because it was thick like honey (Colum. 12.39). Cf. Billiard 491.
MUNICIPES Because Jupiter was born in Crete (13.41), these wine-jars are his
fellow-townsmen, an obviously humorous expression; cf. 4.33, Aristoph. Ach.
333.
272 HIC The funambulus; FIGENS VESTIGIA cf. Verg. Aen. 6.159.
273 BRUMAMQUE FAMEMQUE Cf. 6.360.
TALENTA In Roman money a talent is 6,000 denarii.
CENTUM VILLAS Cf. 86 sqq., 140.
275 ASPICE See on 5.25; PORTUS sc. plenos trabibus.
2768 Cf. Pliny NH 2.118. PLUS sc. quam in terra (cf. the exaggeration at 3.310);
CLASSIS not just one ship.
CARPATHIUM Between Crete and Rhodes, often stormy (Prop. 2.5.11, 3.7.12;
Stat. Silv. 3.2.88; Hom. Hymn 3.43). For this name on its own without mare see
Thes. onom. s.v.; but here perhaps sc. aequor.
GAETULA (i.e. Gaetulica; cf. 4.100, 6.544, 15.23 and on 2.106) AEQUORA The
sea along the north coast of Africa, frequented by traders in the purple-fish (Pliny
NH 5.12, 9.127 etc.; Blmner3 2, Charlesworth 140). Juvenal is probably thinking
of the dangers of the Syrtes, though they were considerably East of the Gaetuli.
TRANSILIET Hor. Odes 1.3.24, Pers. 5.146 (cf. on 190).
279 CALP (Gibraltar) from the rare nominative Calpis (Thes. onom. s.v. 101.19
and Calpe 100.16; NeueWagener 1.945; Philostr. Apollon. 5.1). This represents
the extreme West (cf. 10.1); is proverbial (Apostolius
16.19, 2 p. 661 Schn.Leutsch after Pindar Nem. 4.69).
280 The fable that the sun hissed like red-hot metal when it sank into the sea
was characteristically credited by Epicurus (fr. 346b Usener) and refuted by Posidonius (fr. 119 EdelsteinKidd); it is quite often mentioned by Roman writers,
e.g. Stat. Silv. 2.7.27 and |[586] (of the rising sun) Tac. Germ. 45, cf. McKay Antichthon 10, 1976, 41. Hercules visited Spain to take the cattle of Geryon, and set up his
Pillars (one of which is Gibraltar) as a memorial of his visit; cf. Sil. It. 1.1412 atque
hominum finem Gades Calpenque secutus / dum fert Herculeis Garamantica signa
columnis; 17.6379.
281 GRANDE EST 12.127. Seeing the mermen (or Tritons) is a price worth
paying to become rich.
TENSO FOLLE With full purse cf. 13.61; made of leather, ALUTA, cf. Lucil.
446 and the context in Non. p. 151.
IUVENES MARINOS Pliny NH 9.9 sqq., 32.144; Tac. Ann. 2.24 monstra maris,
ambiguas hominum et beluarum formas, cf. Pliny 2.7; Aelian HA 13.21, Paus. 9.21.1.
Such creatures were regarded as characteristic of the Atlantic as opposed to the
Mediterranean; cf. the ballaena Britannica of 10.14, Albinovanus FPR p. 115 v. 5,
Tac. Germ. 17.1.
284 NON UNUS 3.150. ILLE Orestes, cf. Eur. Orest. 2604; SORORIS Electra.

SATIRE Fourteen519

286 HIC Ajax (cf. Soph. Ajax 97 sqq., 295 sqq.).

287 PARCAT Refrain from tearing, which is a sign of madness; cf. 2.71, [Quintil.] Decl. 256, Gospel acc. to Luke 8.27, Lucian De Salt. 83 (of an actor representing
Ajax).
LACERNIS See on 9.28.
288 curatoris egere / a praetore dati Hor. Epist. 1.1.102 (a passage also recalled in
112); cf. the Twelve Tables 5.7, Berger s.v. curator furiosi, Kaser2 84, 90, 371. The feebleness of ancient ships naturally caused the feeling that seafaring was madness.
289 Is parted from the sea only by a planks thickness, cf. 12.58.
290 CAUSA MALI TANTI Not a Lavinia (Verg. Aen. 6.93, 11.480).
TITULOS The legend (cf. 6.205); the phrase is contemptuous.
292 FUNEM The mooring-rope, Ovid Am. 2.11.23 etc.; i.e. set sail.
PIPERIS Cf. Pers. 5.136 (on 190), Miller 80.
294 FASCIA The strip or wrack (Duff) of cloud.
AESTIVUM TONAT Modelled after intonuit laevum (Enn. Ann. 527, Verg.
Aen. 2.693, 9.628).
295 HAC IPSA 10.76.
296 FRACTIS TRABIBUS Pers. 1.89; abl. of separation, he will fall from the
ship. FLUCTU OBRUTUS Petron. 115.17.
297 ZONAM Cf. on 8.120 and Phaedr. 4.22.11; a common way for travellers to
carry money.
LAEVA He is swimming with the right hand; MORSU literally, because of the
circumstances, but alluding to the proverbial mordicus tenere.
299 HARENA is . Cf. 3.55, Pliny NH 33.66, Thes. aurum 1526.44 and
47, Blmner2 4.17 and 25, Otto Pactolus and Tagus with |[587] Nachtrge 114, 118,
196, 216, 242. In fact the gold of the Pactolus was now exhausted (Strabo 13.1.23.591,
13.4.5.6256).
3012 Cf. Hor. AP 201, Pers. 1.8890 (perhaps implying that the picture was
if possible painted on a fragment of the wreck, cf. Mart. 12.57.12), 6.32, Phaedr.
4.22.245 (cf. on 297), Pease on Cic. De Nat. Deor. 3.89 (who however confuses
these pictures used to help in begging with the votive pictures of 12.278), SG 2.273
= 3.52.
TUETUR i.e. sustentat.
3034 Cf. 10.1222 (with praedives as here), Sen. Dial. 10.17.4, 11.9.5, Ep. 115.16
and on 139.
MISERA It produces misery.
3056 LICINUS See on 1.109. He has his private fire-brigade (for the danger of
fires cf. 3.212 sqq., Hor. Serm. 1.1.767) modelled on the public cohortes vigilum (Thes.
cohors 1554.8; P. K. Baillie-Reynolds The Vigiles of Imperial Rome (1926) 22) with their
amae (Paulus Dig. 1.15.3.3; Nero had ordained such precautions, Tac. Ann. 15.43.4).
ATTONITUS PRO terrified (4.77) for.

520A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

307 ELECTRO This may mean either amber (cf. 5.38; amber cups Apul. Met.
2.19) or an alloy of gold and silver (Pliny NH 9.139, 33.80, Blmner2 4.160). As
often, it is difficult to decide; cf. Riddle in Laudatores Temporis Acti, Studies in
Memory of W. E. Caldwell (1964) 110.
PHRYGIA COLUMNA (collective singular cf. 3.142) Cf. 89; of Synnadic
marble, sometimes exported in whole columns (Marquardt 621, Blmner2 3.53,
Ward-Perkins JRS 41, 1951, 98100). Cf. Pliny NH 35.3 nec cessat luxuria id agere ut
quam plurimum (sc. of marble, including Synnadic) incendiis perdat; Sen. Contr.
2.1.12.
TESTUDINE (6.80, 11.94) should be followed by a colon to indicate adversative
asyndeton.
DOLIA (probably not poetic plural, cf. on 311) Large earthenware wine-jars
(cf. Marquardt 646, Billiard 466) in which Diogenes lived to show his ;
cf. Diog. Laert. 6.23 etc. and the representations in DS dolium 332 fig. 2492, T.
Schreiber Hellenist. Reliefbilder (1894) xciv.
NUDI Sen. Ep. 13.3 qui male vestitum et pannosum vidit, nudum se vidisse dicit.
Cf. on 13.122 and Sen. De Ben. 5.4.3 with the context about Alexander (cf. 311).
309 The tub was once broken, Diog. Laert. 6.43.
ATQUE And in fact the old one will still serve, cf. 206 and HS 479 (atque adeo
is common in this sense) .
PLUMBO COMMISSA Fastened (commissura means joint) with a strap of
lead; Cato De Agr. 39.1 dolia plumbo vincito, Varro Sat. Men. 532. Hence plumbare.
|[588]
311 TESTA Cf. 5.35. Diogenes shared most of his time between Corinth, where
he met Alexander, and Athens; presumably he maintained a tub in each city. Cf.
Zeller 24.1.317 n. 5.
312 MAGNUM It is Diogenes Magnus now, not Alexander Magnus. The story
is famous.
NIL CUPERET Except that Alexander should not cut off the sunlight.
TOTUM ORBEM Cf. 10.68. The subjunctive verbs indicate that these are
Alexanders reflections.
AEQUANDA i.e. conferenda; not aeque magna futura (on 268).
31516 This picks up passurus pericula; Fortune gives ups and downs to Alexander (and Licinus), but not to Diogenes, who is prudens. But the reflection
hardly fits in naturally here, and since it is largely repeated from 10.3656 Juvenal
must intend to refer us back to that poem; remember what I said previously, that
we become slaves of capricious Fortune in striving for wealth, power and fame
(Weidner). Highet 282 is wrong to take Fortuna here bluntly as Wealth; 328 does
not defend this.
316 MENSURA A new paragraph begins here. For TAMEN EDAM cf.
1.1921 (also with si).

SATIRE Fourteen521

318 Cf. 5.1011, Varro Sat. Men. 22 and 31518, Sen. Ep. 4.8 sqq., 119.7, Dial.
12.10.2; [Plato] Eryxias 404a.
IN QUANTUM is common in Silver prose for quantum, but apparently in
classical verse only Manil. 3.249 (Ovid Met. 11.71 seems to be corrupt), and surprising here in view of 31920; perhaps sit.
319 EPICURE HORTIS See on 13.123.
320 SOCRATICI Cf. Xen. Mem. 2.1 etc. The PENATES (house, by synecdoche) are in origin the humble gods of the Roman larder, penus; their application
to a Greek is perfectly unobtrusive, cf. 8.110.
CEPERUNT contained; 10.148, 11.171 and 197.
321 Cf. Hor. Serm. 1.1.735 (Epicurean); M. Aurel. 5.9 (SAPIENTIA
cf. 13.20) . is Epicurean (fr.
202 Usener = 45 Bailey; cf. Sen. Ep. 16.7) as well as Stoic.
322 ACRIBUS Strict; EXEMPLA in the rhetorical sense (Epicurus and Socrates) cf. 8.184.
323 NOSTRIS Modern (cf. nos 15.106); SUMMAM 400,000 sesterces (on 1.106).
324 See on 3.1539; the expression hints that the law values money rather than
character.
325 Makes you frown (13.215) and pout; cf. Sen. De Ben. 6.7.1, Ovid Am. 2.2.33,
Varro RR 1.2.26. |[589]
326 DUOS EQUITES i.e. duorum equitum censum; cf. Nestora 12.128. Juvenals
generosity here is becoming ironical.
FAC is quite natural in itself (cf. 12.50; hardly in the arithmetical sense, tot up,
cf. on 6.229), but after EFFICE 323 it may exemplify the idiom discussed on 1.55.
327 GREMIUM Cf. 7.215 and patuit sinus 1.88.
3289 The insatiability of the rich is a commonplace, cf. 139, Pers. 6.7880 etc.
CROESI 10.274 and Otto s.v.; PERSICA REGNA (which Diogenes despised;
Cic. Tusc. 5.92, Dio Chrys. 6.35, RE Diogenes 766.42) cf. Hor. Odes 2.12.21, Otto
Persa, [Plato] Eryxias 393cd. FORTUNA singular as 16.34.
DIVITIAE NARCISSI A humiliating (anti-)climax; this is a sample of nostri
mores 323! Narcissus, the ab epistulis of Claudius, owned one of the largest fortunes recorded from antiquity (Duncan-Jones 343, RSV 2.56, SG 1.43 = 1.46, 2.135
= 2.273); cf. Pliny NH 33.134, Dio Cass. 60.34.4, Suet. Claud. 28.
331 Cf. Tac. Ann. 11.378, who however represents Narcissus as acting without
the authority of Claudius.
UXOREM Messalina.
IMPERIIS Narcissus is the imperator now; cf. Tac. l.c. 35 omnia liberto oboediebant; Pliny Ep. 8.6.12 etc.

[590]

Satire Fifteen

This satire describes a conflict between two Egyptian towns which ended in cannibalism. It falls into four paragraphs. 132 first comment on a number of Egyptian
taboos, and then, when the reader has made up his mind that this is going to
be a satire against superstition, suddenly (and unfairly; see on 13) the low value
there attached to human life is contrasted with the respect accorded to worthless
things; a dramatic introduction of the theme (cf. the delayed surprise of 9.26).
Cannibalism as recounted in the Odyssey is incredible enough; but this instance
is well-attested and true. It is even worse than any of the horrors of tragedy, for it
incorporates the act of a whole community. More will be said about the themes of
this introduction presently.
The second paragraph (3392) narrates the story. 93128 contrast it with cases
of cannibalism enforced by siege, and 12972 (with 12931 acting as transition)
comment that it runs counter to the divine origin of mans nature and his natural superiority over the animals. There is thus a certain resemblance in form to
Twelve, which likewise falls into four divisions and consists of reflections on an
event narrated in the second of them.
The introduction, as just indicated, is unusually complex, and achieves several
aims. First, it allows Juvenal incidentally to poke fun at Homer; the satirist naturally likes to deflate elevated literature and insinuate the value of writing relevant
to actual contemporary life (cf. 1.524). Secondly, it emphasises the horror of the
event by insisting on its incredibility as well as its truth. Thirdly, it introduces the
contrast between present and past which runs through the whole poem (nuper 27,
nostro aevo 31, adhuc 35, 6571, nos antiqui 1069, nunc iam 11012, modo
119, iam 159, primi fabri 168, aspicimus 169, nunc 172). Juvenal is horrified that
these things could happen in modern times; modern society has acquired a veneer
of civilisation, but this is stripped away to show that human history has |[591] been
essentially regression, not progress (see notes on 6970 and 151, and, in spite of the
irony, cf. Six init.). Accordingly Juvenal keeps his theme in historical perspective
by references to the past as seen in history (the great source of exempla) and my522

SATIRE fifteen523

thology (the symbolical expression of the psychological instincts of man). There

has been no such crime right from the beginnings of the human race and recorded
history (30). Even in their violence these puny Egyptians of today are no match for
the epic heroes of the past (6571); though it must be admitted that this digression,
even if it does have a structural function, over-labours the point and is disproportionate in length, awkwardly introduced, and somewhat harsh in expression.
At least the benefit of fire brought by Prometheus remained inviolate (846); this
carries on the point that they did not wait to cook the captive, but is a piece of artificially introduced and vapid rhetoric (see note). The Vascones can be pardoned
in siege conditions, especially as they could not be expected to have reached our
modern stage of culture, which has prevailed throughout the world (highly ironical, though 11012 rather weaken than contribute to the effect). Saguntum too
can be excused (it never needed to be except in the eyes of the declaimers who
invented the story); but Egypt is even worse than the Tauric Diana. The primitive
smiths of fable only forged implements of peace (1668); Pythagoras ate no meat
at all and abstained even from some vegetables.
The influence of the schools of rhetoric is prominent in this poem; one example
has been noted on 93. The writer of [Quintil.] Decl. 12, on the theme cadaveribus
pasti in a famine, found in it a useful stock of themes and expressions, and the
notes point out parallels with other rhetorical writers too. Apparently when Juvenal heard of this event in Egypt, a country of which he disliked the natives, he
framed his treatment of it on the topics applied in the schools to the characteristically horrific and (until this instance turned up) unreal theme of cannibalism.
Yet in my judgment the poem has not suffered from the rhetoric except at 847.
Pseudo-Quintilian seems intent merely on coining a string of epigrams, but Juvenal to me conveys genuine moral fervour, humanitarian feeling (cf. on 6.595),
and revulsion at the thought that such things could happen in his own day. Some
faults in the execution of the |[592] poem have been pointed out above, but it seems
to me a much better work than is generally held.
The poem is discussed by Fredericks, Illinois Class. Stud. 1, 1976, 174.
Egyptological Bibliography
J. G. Griffiths, Commentary on Plut. De Is. et Osir. (1970).
H. Bonnet, Reallexicon der Aeg. Religionsgeschichte (1952).
T. Hopfner3, Fontes Historiae Religionis Aegyptiacae (19225).
T. Hopfner4, Tierkulte (Denkschriften der st. Akad., Phil.-Hist. Kl. 57, 1913,
Abh. 2).
1 VOLUSI BITHYNICE He is unknown. The name Bithynicus appears often
in Martial, and Plutarch wrote a work addressed either to or
(Teubner ed. vol. 7 by Sandbach, p. 4 no. 83). See further Thes. s.v. 2018.81, and

524A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

now also T. Flavius Bithynicus, Ann. Epigr. 1968 no. 42. It need not be a noble
name of the type discussed on 2.67 (even a slave has it, CIL 6.6417); for other such
geographical names cf. Schulze LEG 113 n. 2.
QUIS NESCIT (6.247) is modelled on Cic. Tusc. 5.78 Aegyptiorum morem quis
ignorat, quorum imbutae mentes pravitatis erroribus quamvis carnificinam prius
subierint quam ibim aut aspidem aut faelem aut canem aut crocodilum violent?
DEMENS Aegyptiorum dementiam Cic. De Nat. Deor. 1.43, where see Pease.
2 PORTENTA Cic. De Rep. 3.14 of Egyptian animal-gods.
AEGYPTOS P offers this termination here, 45, 116, with some support from
other mss.; likewise in other feminine geographical names in this declension,
Zacynthos 114 (see apparatus), Rhodos et Miletos 6.296.
212 There are many references in classical authors to the Egyptian cults of
these animals, conveniently collected in Mayors notes and by Hopfner3, with useful discussions by Hopfner4 and Bonnet. Many mummies of most of them have
been found, and cities were named after them (Crocodilopolis, Cynopolis; of fish
e.g. Oxyrrhynchus). In general I only quote the evidence of Herodotus and a few
select references.
Juvenal is right to insist on the local character of most of these cults, though
he eventually does drift off into unwarranted generalisation 9 sqq. By local cult I
mean that certain animals would have special veneration in certain places, though
others would be recognised as part of the national pantheon, with some exceptions such |[593] as the crocodile, which was abhorred in most of Egypt and only
worshipped in a few areas. Juvenal is also correct in confining the cult of the dog
to local status, though in fact its worship was widespread; he is incorrect in so confining ibis, ape, cat except insofar as they would have special local enthusiasms.
The case of fish depends on the species. He is incorrect in attributing national cult
to sheep and goats.
Diversity of religious practice between communities often caused enmities
(Dio Cass. 42.34.2; Joseph. Contra Apionem 2.6.656 and cf. AJ 1.8.2; Athanasius
Contra Gentes 23; [Apul.] Asclep. 37 and cf. A. D. Nock Conversion (1933) 293,
L. Mitteis and U. Wilcken Grundzge und Chrestomathie der Papyruskunde 1.2
(1912) no. 11). Plut. De Is. et Osir. 72 mentions a contemporary case between Oxyr
rhynchus and Cynopolis (cf. Griffiths 548), and, like Diod. Sic. 1.89.56, says that
such diversity was introduced from deliberate policy (divide et impera) by one of
the Pharaohs; cf. Hopfner4 8.
2 CROCODILON Herod. 2.69, Hopfner4 125, RE Krokodile 1952.
3 The ibis (Hopfner3 117; RE Ibis 809.63) was said to kill the fabulous flying
serpents from Arabia (Herod. 2.75; Cic. De Nat. Deor. 1.101, where see Pease and
add Mela 3.8.82; Pliny NH 10.75; Hopfner4 118b) and feed its young on serpents
eggs (Amm. Marc. 22.15.256). It is zoologically correct that the ibis eats snakes.
4 CERCOPITHECI The long-tailed ape. Though Lydus De Mens. 3.11 and 4.76

SATIRE fifteen525

also mentions , the apes worshipped were actually ; but Juvenal, to whom zoological accuracy was unimportant, could not fit this into his
verse. See RE Affe 706.32, Thoth 374.51; Hopfner4 26 sqq., esp. 31b; McDermott
356.
EFFIGIES Nothing is known of this. For the ape catacombs at Thebes see L.
LortetC. Gaillard La Faune Momifie (1905) 2.239.
5 This famous statue is in fact of Amenophis III (Paus. 1.42.2 with Frazer; inscriptions on it, A. and E. Bernard Les Inscriptions du Colosse de Memnon (1960)
nos. 29 and 31); apparently it is first called Memnon in an inscription (no. 1) of A.D.
20 (though the reading is not quite certain). Its musical sound is first mentioned
by Strabo 17.1.46.816, and Pausanias l.c., like Juvenal, compares it to that of the
strings of a lyre. The sound was heard every morning at sunrise (hence the identification with Memnon, the son of Aurora, cannot be earlier than the beginning
of the phenomenon), and was due to the fact that the upper part of the statue had
been overthrown by an earthquake (Strabo), probably that recorded by Eusebius
in 2726 B.C., so that after the cold of night the rapid expansion of the loosened
stones in the sudden change of temperature caused vibration of the |[594] material and air-currents through the cracks. Juvenals DIMIDIO (cf. 8.4) hints at this
explanation. See RE Memnon 643.49, 651.21, 648.39; A. Bataille Chron. dgypte 26
(52), 1951, 332 and 348, and Les Memnonia (1952) 153; Wiedemann Bnner Jahrb.
124, 1917, 53 with photograph (cf. also Bernard plates 13 and frontpiece); Casson2
2728; Balsdon1 230; SG 1.364 = 1.441.
DIMIDIO MEMNONE Ablative absolute. I cannot see the relevance of Housmans quotation of Verg. Buc. 3.39.
6 Hom. Il. 9.383. Thebes, like the statue of Memnon, was one
of the tourist sights of Egypt; Germanicus visited both Memnon and veterum
Thebarum magna vestigia (Tac. Ann. 2.60). Diod. Sic. 1.50.1
. The grand associations of 56 put
the ape-statue of 4 to shame.
PORTIS Most authors would have preferred the medio-passive construction
with portas, but cf. Val. Flacc. 5.609 gens picta pharetris contrasted with the
examples quoted by Langen p. 14, who points out that Valerius only uses such
accusatives with parts of the body. Juvenal, who only has the construction at 8.16
(cf. on 8.4), seems to have restricted it similarly; and so does Persius (1.78, 5.86).
7 AELUROS The first occurrence of the word in Latin. Cats were first domesticated in Egypt, but it is doubtful how far they were kept in the households of
the Greeks and Romans, where ferrets or polecats or mongooses were commonly
used as mousers. F(a)eles is a generic name which can cover martens and wild
cats, though it appears often in Egyptian contexts (e.g. Cic. Tusc. quoted on 1; cf.
De Nat. Deor. 1.82 with Pease). Cf. Toynbee 87, Aymard Latomus 20, 1961, 57 and
on Egyptian cat-cult Herod. 2.67, Hopfner4 35.

526A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

PISCEM The cult depended on the species. Cf. Herod. 2.72; Hopfner3 892
and 4150; Bonnet Fische; Keller 2.346, RE Ichthys 844, Griffiths 277 and 548, W.
HelckE. Otto Lexicon der Aegyptologie (1975) s.v. Fische, religis.
FLUMINIS The river, i.e. the Nile; cf. Urbs and scrofa 6.177 the sow. Greek
expresses such senses more clearly with the article, e.g. often in Herod.
2, and Athen. 9.388a.
ILLIC VENERANTUR Herod. 2.667; e.g. Cynopolis. Dogs were sacred to
Anubis (6.534); cf. Hopfner4 48b.
NEMO DIANAM They worship dogs, but not the huntress goddess, patroness
of dogs. Bubastis is identified with Diana e.g. by Herodotus (2.59.1, 137.5, 1556),
but is properly the goddess of cats; cf. Witt 146.
9 PORRUM ET CAEPE is from Hor. Epist. 1.12.21 seu porrum et caepe trucidas,
where it is a joke at Pythagoreanism (cf. on 1734). No |[595] other classical source,
except imitations of this passage by Prudentius, mentions abstention from leeks,
and the Coptic evidence quoted by A. Jacoby Recueil de Trav. rel. la Philol. g.
34, 1912, 9 is not compelling for Juvenals time. In fact leeks were a staple of the
Egyptian diet, and the best grew there (Pliny NH 19.110; RE Lauch 989.44). For
onions cf. Hopfner3 825b, V. Hehn Kulturpflanzen und Haustiere7 (1902) 1923, F.
Zimmermann Die Aeg. Religion (1912) 80; the Egyptians swore by them, Pliny NH
19.101 (cf. 2.16); some abstain from lentils, some from beans, some from onions,
Diod. Sic. 1.89.4; Porphyry De Abst. 1.21 generalises this into a prohibition from
generally. But in fact, though they were often offered on altars, abstention
from them seems to have been confined to the peculiar cult of Pelusium (Lucian
Iupp. Trag. 42, Jacoby l.c., Griffiths 280, RE Pelusion 414).
FRANGERE MORSU Lucan 6.114.
1011 This refers to the belief that the gods revealed themselves only to innocent men in an innocent age; see 6.19 and cf. Catull. 64.383. The vegetables are
home-made gods (domi nata) Duff; cf. RE suppl. 4.291 and on 6.2.
11 LANATIS ANIMALIBUS i.e. sheep, cf. Pliny NH 8.199 and on 8.155. See
Hopfner3 887 s.v. oves and 489; rams were sacred to Iuppiter Hammon (Herod.
2.42). Yet the Lycopolitae ate mutton (Plut. De Is. et Osir. 72 with Griffiths 547).
CAPELLAE Goats were thought to be sacred to Mendes, who was equated with
Pan (Herod. 2.42 and 46; Frazer on Ovid Fasti 2.441); but in fact this is wrong (RE
Mendes 783; Hopfner4 89; Bonnet Widder 868). Goats were not worshipped in
Egypt; foreigners were misled because the Egyptians had a species of sheep which
closely resembled a goat.
13 LICET Juvenal infers the legitimacy of cannibalism from the fact that it had
happened (so during a famine Diod. Sic. 1.84.1); but of course this is not a fair
inference.
ATTONITO Even in the days of mythical monsters this was extraordinary.
TALE FACINUS In the episodes of the Cyclops and the Laestrygonians (18). It

SATIRE fifteen527

is hard to see that these are more incredible than the events listed in 1922; but it
suits Juvenal to emphasise the inhumanity of cannibalism.
SUPER CENAM For the phrase cf. Vendryes Rev. Phil.3 15, 1941, 8. This is the
time for incredible stories (Pliny Ep. 9.33.1); cf. Suet. Aug. 74 adduced on 16 and A.
Scobie Aspects of the Ancient Romance (1969) 24.
15 Hor. Epist. 1.19.1920 mihi saepe / bilem, saepe iocum movere. |[596]
MOVERAT is in sense equivalent to movit, cf. on 9.96.
FORTASSE in effect = sine dubio, cf. on 24; see Hofmann p. 143, Hand 2.722,
and likewise . Such understatement is characteristic of urbane language, to
avoid the appearance of dogmatism; cf. the use of minus and parum meaning in
effect non.
16 UT MENDAX ARETALOGUS The narrative of Odysseus is dismissed as
fictitious by Dio Chrys. 11.34 (though it must be remembered that is
regular for the creation of imaginative literature), Lycophron 764, Lucian Vera
Hist. 1.3. , first in Plato Rep. 614b, became proverbial of long
nonsensical stories, Suid. 1.305.20 Adler, Paroemiogr. 1 p. 210, 2 p. 13.
ARETALOGUS In Hellenistic Greek a manifestation of a gods power was
called an , and the composers of encomia on such . Naturally
they did not confine themselves to strict veracity, and the word acquired overtones such as it has here and at Manetho 4.4469. Such an aretalogy is Prop. 3.17
(note virtutis tuae poeta 20), cf. R. Reitzenstein Hellenistische Wundererzhlungen
(1906) 11 and 151; the same notion may underlie Ter. Ad. 5356. See RE s.v. and
suppl. 6.13; Nilsson 2.228; V. Longo Aretalogie nel Mondo Greco (1969). Aretalogi
were a dinner diversion for Augustus (Suet. 74); cf. on 14 and Scobie l.c.
1617 NEMO ABICIT Such impatient questions with nemo or nemon(e)
and the present indicative are a colloquial substitute for an imperative, originating in orders given to slaves by their masters; ecquis is similarly used. Cf. Ter. Ph.
152, Hor. Serm. 2.7.34 (where the reading fert is preferable), Epictet. 3.26.22
;
BICIT Such scansions in compounds of iacio appear in classical poetry with
Moretum 94, Germanicus 196, Manil. 1.666 and 4.44 (Mather HSCP 6, 1895, 87
and 101); at Ovid Ex Ponto 2.3.37 the reading is not certain (Mather 143). Juvenal
uses no other form of any compound of iacio where the question arises.
DIGNUM VERA 8.188; VERA because it is unlike that which Odysseus told of.
18 FINGENTEM has a causal nuance; cf. KS 1.755.
LAESTRYGONAS ET CYCLOPAS Cf. 14.20 and on 13; Sext. Empir. Pyrrh.
3.249 (after discussion of the Stoic doctrine on cannibalism, cf. on 106)
( ) ,
and Pliny NH 7.9 (Book 7 is devoted to the human species of
animals, and 9 begins the discussion of human customs; for the rhetorical prologue 15 cf. on 1313, 15964). The massive spondaic ending suits the monsters.

528A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

19 NAM The speaker does not believe in Scylla and Charybdis |[597] (17) etc.,
but they are at least more plausible than the cannibal episodes.
CITIUS 16.32, 10.225.
CREDIDERIM For this perfect subjunctive of modified assertion cf. Thes. s.v.
1147.37, Handford p. 105 and Juv. 8.74.
1920 Homers (Od. 12.5972) are identified with the
at the entry to the Black Sea and prominent in the Argo legend; vice
versa Apollonius and others (cf. CR2 17, 1967, 44) make the Argo pass by
Scylla and Charybdis. CNCURRERE (-) is common in this context,
e.g. Ovid Met. 7.62. CYANEIS (dative) is the whole, SAXA the part, cf. Val. Flacc.
4.5634 sua comminus actae / saxa premunt cautesque suas and 658; for such expressions cf. on 3.23 and La Penna and Ronconi, Riv. Fil. 107, 1979, 1.
20 PLENOS UTRES Given by Aeolus to Odysseus.
212 Juvenals memory slips; Homer does not name Elpenor among those
changed into swine. Juvenal is thinking of Od. 10.238 ; the blow
of a ladylike hand is only TENUE. Pig oarsmen makes a fine oxymoron.
23 PHAEACA A touch of national pride. The word is properly a noun, but is
used here adjectivally, cf. 4.100 and index nouns, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes
1.31.12.
VACUI CAPITIS 14.57; at Lucian referred to on 16.
24 SIC ALIQUIS sc. dixit; cf. on 15. We infer that most of the tipsy banqueteers
believed Odysseus.
25 The identification of Phaeacia with Corcyra appears first in Thuc. 1.25, 3.70.
TEMETUM An archaism (Pliny NH 14.90; cf. Blmner1 197) to suit the mythological context. Cic. De Rep. 4.6 in using the word is thinking of an old law, but
there does not seem to be any special point at Hor. Epist. 2.2.163.
DUXERAT had drunk cf. 6.428; URNA (6.426, 12.44) would more exactly be
mphr, cf. on 9.58.
26 SUB Cf. 7.13, 4.12 etc. All his crew had been lost before he reached Phaeacia.
CANEBAT Cf. Verg. Aen. 4.14 (Aeneas narrative); hardly just because the poets make their heroes speak in verse, but suggesting that they recited like rhapsodes.
27 MIRANDA Like the story of Odysseus; but unlike that it is precisely placed
in time (nuper, cf. modo 119) and space, so that it can be checked; cf. of another
Sen. Apoc. init., and Petron. 110 nec se tragoedias veteres curare sed
rem sua memoria factam. It is also a res gesta. |[598]
CONSULE IUNCO L. Aemilius Iuncus (PIR 12 A 355; now also on Ann. Epigr.
1974, 596) was consul in A.D. 127 from 1 October, as the Fasti Ostienses show. This
dates the event to the last three months of the year. A terminus post quem is also
provided for the composition of the poem, but note the elasticity of nuper (see
Two, introduction and on 2.161). Cf. on 13.17.

SATIRE fifteen529

28 Tentyra is modern Denderah, a little north of Coptos; Ombi is about 10

miles away, a little south of Coptos, modern Negadeh (Nakada) or Kom-Belal
near Balls, ancient Egyptian Nubt. SUPER, glossed ultra in Bob., would in Greek
be and means up-country from the sea (cf. nd e.g. Sall. Jug. 19.5),
i.e. in this case south of. This locates the battle nearer to Ombi, so the aggressors
were the Tentyrites, as 726 also indicate.
CALIDAE 6.527.
2931 VOLGI SCELUS POPULUS Tragedies tell only of crimes of individuals.
COTURNIS TRAGICOS 6.634 and 643; cf. the whole passage.
SYRMATA 8.229.
SCELUS SCELUS See on 16.910.
A PYRRHA From the time of the Flood 1.806.
VOLVAS read 6.452, 10.126; more specifically evolvas. Juvenal never uses the
indicative after quamquam, but in any case this would be subjunctive as it is both
potential and ideal second person.
ACCIPE Cf. 7.36 and p. 32.
NOSTRO AEVO Not in primitive times; cf. iam 159.
335 Ombi and Tentyra are named as neighbours by the Ravenna geographer
3.2 (p. 133 Pinder and Parthey). The hostility probably centred on the cult of the
crocodile, which was worshipped in connection with the cult of Set(h) (RE Seth
19001) at Ombi (RE l.c. 1902.44, Griffiths 490). Seth was identified with Typhon,
and Strabo 17.1.44.815 mentions Typhonia near Tentyra. A granite crocodile has
been found near Ombi (Boussac Rev. Phil.2 41, 1917, 178). The people of Tentyra
however abhorred the crocodile and were famed for their skill in hunting it, which
had been exhibited even at Rome (RE Tentyra 537, Hopfner3 923, 4 134b). This diversity is remarked by Aelian NA 10.21 (cf. 24), assuming that he means this Ombi
and not the other town of the same name. The British excavators actually found
the remains of a wall built between the two sites, as though the men of Dendera
had been trying to keep off the attacks of their fierce neighbours Highet 29; cf.
Boussac 180. But present-day Egyptologists are doubtful about this wall.
VETUS ATQUE ANTIQUA 6.21 and often; vetus because it has lasted a long
time, antiqua because it started long ago. |[599]
IMMORTALE ODIUM Stat. Th. 4.609.
SANABILE VULNUS Ovid RA 101. Here sc. animi; likewise (LSJ II).
SED resumes 35, as if 358 were a digression; similarly perhaps 51 and 87.
39 POPULI Mela 1.9.58 (after mention of theriolatry and its local divergences)
Apis populorum omnium numen est.
40 PRIMORIBUS An ironically dignified word; cf. Hor. Serm. 2.1.69, Kuntz
(on 4.73) 94.
SENTIRENT The men of the alter populus, Ombi.

530A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

COMPITA Herod. 2.35.4 (whence Mela 1.57).

PERVIGILI 8.158 (3.275).
IACENTEM I cannot parallel the expression torus iacet; Ruperti suggested
quo iacentes, cf. 1.136.
SEPTIMUS There seems to have been quite a number of seven-day festivals
in Egypt; Pliny NH 8.186, Amm. Marc. 22.15.17, RE Zeitrechnung 2357.54, W. H.
Roscher Die Sieben- und Neunzahl (Abhl. Schs. Gesellsch. 24.1, 1904) 98.
446 LUXURIA here denotes the will rather than the means to practise excessive indulgence Duff; SED necessitates this.
QUANTUM IPSE NOTAVI So far as my personal observation goes, cf. notemus 16.35; i.e. to judge from the Egyptians I have met, they are all just as bad as
the notorious Canopus (but perhaps I have met an unfair selection). QUANTUM
is generally understood as equivalent to ut (a post-Juvenalian usage), and then the
passage is taken as evidence that Juvenal had visited Egypt; such interpretations
go back to the ancient world (see pp. 67).
BARBARA TURBA The native Egyptians, contrasted with the Hellenised Canopus, the playboy resort (6.84, cf. famosa moenia 83; hence Strabo
17.1.16.800) of Alexandria; for the contrast between Egypt proper and Alexandria
cf. Bell JRS 36, 1946, 130; A. Stein Unters. zur Gesch. und Verwaltung Aegyptens
(1915) 85. Cf. Lucan 8.542 barbara Memphis / et Pelusiaci tam mollis turba Canopi;
Sen. Ep. 51.3 illic sibi plurimum luxuria permittit (and ibid. 4); SG 1.361 = 1.439.
47 ADDE QUOD (besides cf. 14.114) ET (Ovid AA 3.81) is like nec non et. This
adds a second reason to 404, so horrida Canopo should be placed in parenthesis.
FACILIS Not a statement of fact, but the thought of the Tentyrites; cf. 4.55,
7.145.
VICTORIA DE A common combination; cf. triumphus de (8.107).
MADIDIS 6.297 (cf. on 50); BLAESIS Mart. 9.87.2, Ovid AA 1.598. |[600] For
the pleonasm cf. p. 37. The metre, like the men, staggers at the end of these lines.
MERO is wine not mixed with water.
4851 INDE Among the men of Ombi; HINC among the Tentyrites.
VIRORUM Ironical, since the Romans regarded dancing as incompatible with
gravitas (SG 2.110 = 2.137, Wille 187, Paoli 238, RE Tanzkunst 2247, Marquardt
11819).
NIGRO , who glosses Aethiope, takes this to mean of Nubian stock; they
could not afford a skilful Alexandrian, just as they have to use inferior (QUALIACUMQUE) perfumes (it is improbable that Juvenal hints that, being drunk, they
are not particular). This is probably right, though all Egyptians were
(Herod. 2.104 etc., Mart. 4.42.5, 10.12.12), and some mummy-portraits are rather
negroid. Egyptian flute-players are mentioned Prop. 4.8.39, Tac. Ann. 14.60; for
papyrus contracts hiring musicians for village festivals see Westermann Journ.

SATIRE fifteen531

Egypt. Archaeol. 18, 1932, 16.

UNGUENTA CORONAE Cf. 11.122, 5.36, 9.128; 6.297 coronatum madidumque (cf. on 47). Though these are not fine perfumes, Egypt did in fact produce such (RE Salben 1862.54, Blmner3 13, ES 5.283, A. LucasJ. R. Harris Ancient
Egyptian Materials (1962) 85, T. Reil Beitrge zur Kenntnis des Gewerbs in Hellenist. Aegypten (1913) 145; many references in Athenaeus).
MULTAE seems a weak epithet.
512 IURGIA (5.26) as the first stage of a rixa Tac. Hist. 1.64.2; cf. Ann. 14.17.1
(first probra, then saxa (cf. Juv. 63), then ferrum (Juv. 73)) and Quintil. 5.10.71
(where the text is unfortunately corrupt).
TUBA 1.169; Cic. Ad Fam. 6.12.3 tibi quem illi appellant tubam belli civilis. ARDENTIBUS cf. 35.
534 Ovid Met. 12.3812 saevique vicem praestantia teli / cornua. NUDA unarmed.
55 Pers. 1.3 vel duo vel nemo.
57 DIMIDIOS mutilated cf. 5 and 8.4; ALIAS disfigured cf. Plaut. Amph.
31617.
58 GENIS cheeks rather than eyes.
59 IPSI The participants; bystanders would have disagreed.
62 sqq. Cf. Verg. Aen. 7.507 sqq. quod cuique repertum / rimanti telum ira facit
non iam certamine agresti sed ferro ancipiti decernunt.
634 INCLINATIS LACERTIS TORQUERE To throw with arms bent back;
sententia velut lacerta excussa torquetur Sen. Ep. 108.10, inclinare bracchia of boxers Stat. Th. 6.763.
SAXA TELA after Verg. Aen. 1.14950; cf. Tac. Ann. 13.48. Juvenal is imitated by SHA 24.22.3 omni seditionum instrumento nec defuit (Peter; de P, desiit
) ullum seditionis telum. |[601]
DOMESTICA Likewise (LSJ IV); cf. Ovid Met. 6.686 (familiar).
65 NEC but not, as 2.130, 3.102, 13.114, 10.120.
QUALS sc. torserunt. HUNC QUALIS cf. Stat. Th. 1.474 hanc quanta
(Juv. 7.56 is not parallel). The whole sequence hunc lapidem qualis vel quo
pondere (= hoc pondus quo) sed quem (sc. lapidem) is awkward. The metre of
66 is deliberately ponderous.
TURNUS Aen. 12.896; AIAX Il. 7.268, 12.380; TYDIDES Il. 5.302. On the complaint of degeneracy cf. Il. 1.272, 12.449, 20.285 and as above (but not 7.268), with
the references at Vell. Pat. 1.5.3 and Pliny NH 7.74. This contrast between the present and the epic past recalls 1326; yet there is a hint of irony in the word COXAM,
which (with the exception of Sil. It. 10.181) is too undignified for epic.
68 ILLIS Probably feminine, rather than masculine in a comparatio compendiaria for illorum dextris.
69 GENUS HOC i.e. nos homines, the human race.

532A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

70 MALOS The view of progressive degeneration put forward in Six init. after
Hesiod; cf. e.g. Hor. Odes 3.6.458, Sen. De Ben. 1.10; hence DEUS ODIT.
PUSILLOS Cf. Pliny NH 7.734 (cf. on 65), Gellius 3.10; Empedocles fr. 77
DielsKranz, and, perhaps influenced by him, the Epicureans (Lucr. 5.925 sqq.
with Bailey p. 976), who attributed it to the exhaustion of the earth (Lucr. 2.1150
sqq.; so also Sen. Ep. 90.44; opposed by Pliny Ep. 6.21.1, where see Sherwin-White);
that is probably the point of infantibus magnis 6.9. Their smallness is why DEUS
RIDET, cf. 13.1703. Many instances are recorded of the exhumation of large
bones, probably in fact mammoth bones, supposed to be of the heroes (F. Pfister
Reliquienkult (1912) 507, Frazer on Paus. 1.35.7).
71 QUICUMQUE ASPEXIT Perhaps none bothers to.
72 DEVERTICULO Cf. Val. Max. 2.6.9. Satirists make a point of indicating
their informality of composition; cf. Horace 1.1.108, 1.6.45, 1.7.9 and Fraenkel 94,
978.
75 PRAESTANT A grander word than praebent (Ovid Met. 10.706, Curtius
4.14.14, Tac. Ann. 14.37.1), still more than dant; so Tac. Agr. 37 with dative of person. Cf. Sil. It. 14.560 terga fuga celeri convertit. For praeSTANT inSTANTibus
cf. Sil. It. 7.421 obiectis reiectat, Stat. Th. 8.414.
OMBIS The town is named instead of its inhabitants; cf. Florus 1.6.7 Fidenae
praecesserant, Housman on Manil. 4.602.
76 I understand this to mean neighbouring (i.e. to Ombi, cf. 36) Tentyra with
its shady palm-grove: PALMAE is collective (cf. 3.307) and its construction is
genitive of quality (for the combination of this |[602] with an adjective see on 3.4
5). To interpret Tentyra near the shady palm-grove puts an intolerable strain on
the collective, which is not defined clearly enough for such a context.
77 Clausen does not record that PO read hinc, which is probably right; it will
mean one of the Tentyrites. Cf. Ovid Met. 3.404 inde aliquis; Ex Ponto 2.2.22
cum quis laeditur inde (= lex nomine Iuli); HS 2089.
80 CORROSIS In sense equivalent to a present participle passive (cf. on 5.68);
HS 391, KS 1.758, Naegelsbach 96, and cf. Serv. on Georg. 1.206.
VICTRIX TURBA Cf. on 4.62.
82 VERIBUS sc. assavit, by zeugma; cf. Val. Flacc. 8.254 pars veribus, pars undanti despumat aeno.
LONGUM PUTAVIT So Sil. It. 4.428; Petron. 10 tardum est differre quod pla
cet.
83 A striking alliteration perhaps meant to convey the crushing of bones.
84 A former pupil of Prof. Nisbet, S. Tugwell, suggested licet.
856 SUMMA seems to suggest that Juvenal envisages the fire stolen by Prometheus as part of the aether, the fiery refined air which in ancient cosmology was
the outer ring of the universe; others say it was the fire of Zeuss thunderbolt or the
sun (ML 3038.65 sqq. and RE 694.13 sqq. s.v. Prometheus). Hence VIOLAVERIT

SATIRE fifteen533

(cf. 6.O.4). Similarly at Aetna 557 the fire of the volcano is sacer (though the text is
doubtful), not like that in everyday use sed caelo propior.
PROMETHEU, DONASTI So Griffith1 57; 2 387. Te in 86 can otherwise only
be referred to Volusius, but this is singularly pointless (cf. on 98); like Fuscinus in
Fourteen and (so far as we can tell) Gallius in Sixteen, he only appears in the initial
address. P originally read Promethea.
ELEMENTO Cf. 11.14; GRATULOR cf. Ovid Met. 10.305 nostro gratulor orbi, /
gratulor huic terrae quod abest regionibus illis / quae tantum genuere nefas (a rhetorical turn, cf. Sen. Contr. 9.2.4, 10.4.9); REOR is an old-fashioned word, found
only here in Juvenal.
87 SED may resume 83 (cf. on 38), or it may mean that Prometheus and I abhor
cannibalism, but the men of Ombi loved it.
88 NIL For the metrical reasons which make this reading preferable to nihil see
Housman CR1 34, 1920, 163 = Coll. Papers 1014.
89 NE QUAERAS This indicates not the purpose of the man who performed
the action of 902, but the purpose of Juvenal in reporting it; cf. 6.87 and 197,
12.93; KS 2.233, HS 535, 642, 826. The use of dubito an = haud scio an is of course
irrelevant.
90 GULA See on 5.158. |[603]
ANTE While the rest were eating the flesh; contrasted with iam.
92 DE SANGUINE From such partitive uses develops the Romance substitute
for the genitive; HS 58, KS 1.199, index prepositions.
93 A new paragraph should begin here.
UT FAMA EST is common, haec fama est (see the apparatus) unexampled.
VASCNS Cf. on 124; Strabo has , Ptolemy 2.6.10 ;
(ibid. 66 his mss. vary between the two). The Greek declension is common with
Celtic names, cf. Allobroga 7.214 and see NeueWagener 1.484 and 4901, Schulze
LEG 4 (who quotes Ceutronas and Limovecas). The Vascones are the Basques;
their chief town was Calagurris, which supported Sertorius and only submitted
in 72 B.C. after his death and a long siege in which the inhabitants were driven to
cannibalism (Sall. Hist. 3.87 M, Florus 2.10.9). This offered a fine theme for declamation; Val. Max. (cf. on 106) 7.6 ext. 3 (quia nullum iam aliud in urbe eorum supererat animal = Juv. 99; cum omne serpentium ac ferarum genus comparatione sui
titulo feritatis superarit = Juv. 159 sqq., q.v.). For another case in a siege cf. on 114.
ANIMAS Cf. 8.83; Avienius Descr. Orb. 1242 neque per compendia diras / producunt animas (prolong their life).
TALIBUS USI was corrupted by haplography to talibusi, and olim was then
interpolated.
945 RES DIVERSA 8.21516; BELLORUM ULTIMA cf. 12.55; OBSIDIONIS
EGESTAS cf. Sen. Dial. 10.18.5; FORTUNAE INVIDIA EST the blame belongs
to fortune cf. 123.

534A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

978 tibi in Clausen is a misprint for CIBI; tibi (so G and a few other mss.), si
cui, was conjectured by Housman, but it is quite wrong to introduce a reference
to the shadowy Volusius (cf. on 86) and give him a distinct character. Leo places
the sentence in the train of thought thus: the inhabitants of Ombi committed
cannibalism. So did the Basques, but under quite different circumstances, when
reduced to this extremity by siege. For when food like this, the matter now under
discussion, is used, it ought to be in circumstances which arouse pity, as in the case
of the Basques. But this is unsatisfactory; exemplum is not a natural word, quod
nunc agitur is pointless, the construction of the nominative gens is loose (others
put no stop after this word and make it the subject of lacerabant 102, which might
be thought better), and modo dicta mihi, which is modelled on 113 ille tamen po
pulus quem diximus, is insufferably prosy, certainly not defended by Moretum 97
dictas herbas or German. 451 praedictis ante (orbibus). Other attempts to defend
the text are yet more plainly futile, and we are left with an overwhelming impression of garbled thought and expression. The lines are certainly spurious. |[604]
99 POST OMNES HERBAS sc. comesas; this preposition and ante often are
pregnant in sense, cf. 1.169, 10.339, 14.183; HS 243 and 827, Verres (on 1.13) 33,
Housman on Lucan 5.473, NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 1.18.5.
QUICQUID closes a list of particulars with asyndeton 6.O.20, 13.83; cf. on 8.27.
100 gula saevit 5.94; ventris rabies Verg. Aen. 2.3567; cf. .
101 PALLOREM ET MACIEM Livy 2.23.3.
104 VENTRIBUS (cf. 100) would be abbreviated tribus; see the apparatus.
106 NOS us moderns cf. 14.323. In fact the Stoics were willing to allow cannibalism (Zeno fr. 254 Arnim = 184 Pearson; cf. on 18); Zeller 34.1.289 n. 1. Juvenal
did not possess a technical knowledge of philosophy (cf. on 13.184); here he is
simply thinking of the Stoic willingness to commend suicide. Cf. Val. Max. 7.6 ext.
2 (on the cannibalism at Numantia; just before the passage quoted on 93) nulla
est in his necessitatis excusatio; nam quibus mori licuit, sic vivere necesse non fuit.
NEC PUTANT is probably interpolated; the thought is like 8.834 (Sen.
Ep. 70.7 non omni pretio vita emenda est), but QUIDAM is as silly as in another
interpolation 12.50. NEC ENIM OMNIA is modelled on 14.127, but, if we may
trust the mss., the interpolator has failed to notice that Juvenal would have written
neque (1.89, 7.59, 14.127; also, though with substantial variants, 4.41, 11.30). Griffith1 57 takes cuiquam from Weidner (who understands praecepta as the subject
of putant) and putat from a few mss.; but nobody (non cuiquam) is unsuitable.
108 The Vascones were actually not Cantabrians, but their neighbours.
109 Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius fought against Sertorius 7972 B.C.
ANTIQUI Like everything republican (cf. 1.137); the Metelli were now extinct,
cf. on 2.67.
11012 would be best placed in parenthesis. Note how the notion of culture
slips from philosophy to rhetoric; sophists often combined the two.

SATIRE fifteen535

GRAIAS Cf. on 10.138.

ATHENAS can, like many proper names, have a typical sense an Athens, i.e. a
place of culture (cf. Val. Max. 2.1.10 quas Athenas, quam scholam, quae alienigena
studia huic domesticae disciplinae praetulerim?; Fronto ap. Consent. GLK 5.349.15
et illae vestrae Athenae Dorocorthoro (= Reims); Auson. Prof. Burd. 1.14.8 Athenaei loci); but the more |[605] abstract sense of this line (the culture of Greece and
Rome) is unparallelled. There is certainly no reference to Hadrians Athenaeum
(see Highet 2367, RE 1.514, Blmner1 339, Callmer Opusc. Rom. 7, 19679, 277,
Braunert Historia-Augusta Colloquium 1963 (Antiquitas Reihe 4 Band 2 ed. A.
Alfoldi, 1964) 9); for one thing this derived its name from Athena (Braunert 13),
not from Athens.
111 GALLIA FACUNDA See on 7.148.
CAUSIDICOS BRITANNOS On the level of education in Britain, promoted by
Agricola (Tac. 21.2 with RichmondOgilvie), see Frere (on 4.140) 350, Liversidge
(ibid.) 31718 and cf. SHA 29.14.1.
112 CONDUCENDO (2.112) Cf. Pliny Ep. 4.13.7 with Sherwin-White; Strabo
4.1.5.181 says that the Gallic cities welcome , cf. Lucian
Apol. De Merc. Cond. 15. See Marrou 3045.
RHETORE See on 7.150214; cf. Gellius 19.9.2 Antonius Iulianus rhetor, docendis publice iuvenibus magister.
THYLE A semi-mythical island first seen and named by Pytheas of Marseilles,
sometimes identified with Britain itself (but not here, since that would spoil the
humorous climax), by others placed beyond it (Tacitus probably thought of it
as one of the Shetlands, Agr. 10.4); in any case it was the end of the world, Verg.
Georg. 1.30 etc. The grammaticus Demetrius of Tarsus evidently visited the Hebrides (Richmond Antiquity 14, 1940, 193; Ogilvie Phoenix 21, 1967, 11314).
11316 TAMEN refers back to 109; though nowadays we know better. Since
Juvenal uses the indefinite enclitic quis and qui only after si and ne, I think that a
full stop should be placed after Zacynthos and tale Aegyptos should be punctuated as a question. The meaning will then be that the Basques, though ignorant of
Stoic precepts to shun cannibalism, are yet honoured for their loyalty, and so are
the Saguntines; but what can Egypt quote in its defence (cf. Thes. excuso 1305.72)
of a similar nature? Then quippe hostia (119) should be placed in parenthesis
as an explanation of the incidental remark Maeotide saevior ara, and the question
of 11516 is repeated and varied in 11922. Why did Juvenal not write quid tale?
Because he prefers a dactyl in the first foot.
Without repunctuation TALE QUID (cf. quid tale Sall. Hist. 2 fr. 105 M) will
mean something like cannibalism enforced by a siege, and EXCUSAT will be
used as at Sen. Contr. 9.4.5 necessitas excusat Saguntinos (cf. Val. Max. quoted
on 106).
114 Saguntum was supposed to have been founded by colonists from Zacyn-

536A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

thos (Sil. It. 1.290, 2.603) and was also connected with a companion of Hercules
of that name (id. 1.275). Stephanus of |[606] Byzantium attests this form for Saguntum; usually in Greek it is r Z.
Homers caused the Latin pets (Vergil, Silius etc.) to allow
a short syllable before the Z.
The historians do not record any cannibalism at the siege of Saguntum by Hannibal, and Silius 2.521 sqq. speaks of it as a notion not put into effect; it was probably a rhetorical invention (mischievously applied by Petron. 141).
FIDE Pliny NH 3.20 Saguntum fide nobile; its fides is often mentioned (Sall.
Hist. 2.64 M fide atque aerumnis incluti, Livy 28.39.1 and 17, Val. Max. 6.6 ext. 1;
cf. Sil. 2.479 sqq.).
MAIOR CLADE It was levelled.
115 MAEOTIDE The altar of Diana among the Tauri of the Crimea. Actually
Lucian Dial. Deor. 16.1 does attribute cannibalism to it; but there Hera is slandering the children of Leto.
ILLA TAURICA INVENTRIX Probably Artemis rather than the altar.
117 UT IAM granting for the moment; cf. HS 647, KS 2.251, Thes. iam 128.49.
CARMINA Especially Euripides; cf. 6.643 (note credamus), 14.240. Tertull.
Apol. 9 remitto fabulas Tauricas theatris suis.
ULTERIUS 1.147, 9.38.
119 MODO = nuper 27; HOS contrasted with ille 113.
120 VALLO Ablative with infesta, the beleaguering wall.
121 MONSTRUM Cf. 172 and 6.645.
1223 Would they put the Nile to shame in any other way? Duff notes: The
fertility of Egypt depends entirely, in modern as in ancient times, upon the autumn rising of the Nile The river is regarded as a divinity; and it was the regular
practice of ancient religions, if the gods failed to do what was expected of them, to
commit outrages in order to put them in the wrong and make them ashamed; cf.
e.g. Ovid Met. 7.603; I. Odelstierna Invidia (Uppsala Univ. Arsskrift 1949 no. 10)
19 and 82; Vollmer on Stat. Silv. 1.4.17; A. Weische Studien zur Politischen Sprache
(1966) 98 sqq. and for INVIDIA on 945. Mythology knows several instances of
human sacrifice because of the failure of the Nile to rise (Griffiths 551, D. Bonneau
La Crue du Nil (1964) 401; add [Plut.] De Fluv. 16, vol. 7 p. 308 Bernadakis), but
there is no trace of it in historical times.
ANNE ALIAM 4.78.
1245 CIMBRI 8.249.
BRITTNS is attested GLK 4.11.6, cf. Vascns 93; but Brittnis Mart. 11.21.9
(at Procop. De Bellis 8.20.7 mss. vary between and ); cf. RE
3.862.19. There is a similar variation between Snnes (8.234 etc.) and forms like
|[607] (Polybius), cf. RE s.v. 1475; (cf. 8.145) and (RE
s.v. 2290); see Holder on both names. Cf. Hor. Odes 3.4.33 Britannos hospitibus

SATIRE fifteen537

feros, thinking of the human sacrifices of the Druids (Tac. Ann. 14.30).
SAUROMATAE 2.1; yet Ephorus fr. 42 Jacoby ap. Strabo 7.3.9.302 alleges cannibalism among them.
-QUE in the middle of a negative list, cf. et 13.44.
AGATHYRSI They lived in modern Rumania.
In these lines Juvenal is using a rhetorical technique; cf. Cic. De Inv. 1.103
demonstramus non vulgare neque factitatum esse ne ab audacissimis quidem
hominibus id maleficium de quo agatur, atque id a feris quoque hominibus et a
barbaris gentibus et immanibus bestiis esse remotum.
126 IMBELLE Strabo 17.1.53.819, Ach. Tat. 4.14.9, Dio Chrys. 32.43. Similar
contemptuous remarks about the Egyptians abound; Philo In Flaccum 4.17 (see
Box), Theocr. 15.4750 (see Gow), SHA 29.8.5 (an alleged letter of Hadrian), Polyb.
15.33.10, 27.13.1, 39.7 (= 18).7; cf. O. Seeck Gesch. des Untergangs der Ant. Welt 42
(1923) 5034, SG 1.367 = 1.39 and (on tumults and religious outbursts) 35960 =
437.
1278 From Verg. Georg. 4.289 (the Egyptian people) circum pictis vehitur sua
rura phaselis, cf. Strabo 17.1.4.788 ; Ovid Met. 3.639 pictae dare
vela carinae. Dr D. M. Dixon explains this passage thus. On the canals of Upper
Egypt today one encounters raft-like ferry-boats made of pots tied together, with
planks laid on top. Although there are no ancient representations of this type of
vessel, it must be meant by references to ferry-boats as a work of Khnum, Khnum
being the god of potters; some of these references mention mast and sail. However
these pots would not be painted; PICTAE is a purely literary floscule taken from
Vergil (who intends a different type of vessel) and Ovid. The whole description
is contemptuous; the diminutive PARVULA and BREVIBUS (ridiculously combined with INCUMBERE) are meant to show how imbelles and inutiles they are.
129 A new paragraph should begin here.
POENAM sc. dignam; see index word-order.
130 POPULIS The plural as 169; contrast 31. He generalises to all Egypt.
131 IRA rabies 126; FAMES 102 and 120.
1313 MOLLISSIMA Prop. 3.15.29 lacrimis Amphiona mollem; Ovid Fasti 4.523
flent pariter molles animis.
FATETUR 10.172.
DEDIT The causal nuance would more explicitly be given by dederit; cf. HS
559, KS 2.293 and on 10.248. |[608]
Tears distinguish men from beasts, says Pliny NH 7.24 (cf. on 18 and 15964;
but the context in Pliny is rather differrent and the tears have no reference to sympathy); Sen. De Ira 1.5 declares that anger is contrary to nature.
A semi-colon would be better than a full stop before HAEC. The epic phrase
became a proverb applied to sympathetic men
(Paroemiogr. 1 p. 4, 2 p. 3).

538A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

1335 With Clausens punctuation there are the following difficulties: (1) SENSUS meaning something like our emotional make-up lacks a good parallel; contrast 146 (2) SQUALOREM is placed , but this variety of that figure
with -que is not Juvenalian (3) if -que links rei, used as an adjective, to causam
dicentis, rei adds nothing to the sense and is a pointless anticlimax; if it connects
rei, used as a noun, with amici and these two refer to different persons, we should
require rei cuiuslibet (4) to weep at a friends tribulations is not a good illustration
of soft-heartedness; this is not a malum alienum (142). So SENSUS can hardly
be gen. sing. Housman made it acc. plur. by moving the full stop from after it to
before it; but the result is too unnatural to merit serious consideration. I think it
is nom. sing. and that a comma should be placed before it, so that 133 will mean
this is the best part of us, feeling; now it does properly co-ordinate with 146.
HAEC has been attracted into the gender of the predicate (cf. 11.52 and often),
and for PARS OPTIMA NOSTRI cf. Sen. Ep. 23.6, 74.16, NQ 1 pr. 14. Then I suggest that difficulties 24 should be solved by altering AMICI to AMICTUM. Now
SQUALOREM REI will be epexegetic of CAUSAM DICENTIS AMICTUM; for
epexegetic -QUE cf. index conjunctions.
IUBET sc. natura cf. 138.
SQUALOREM So defendants regularly appeared in order to arouse sympathy
(Gell. 3.4.1 etc.; cf. on 7.146); see RE Trauerkleidung 2229, luctus 1698.61, A. W.
Lintott Violence in Republican Rome (1968) 16, J. Stroux Ein Gerichtsreform des
Claudius (Sitzb. Bay. Akad. 1929, 8) 61.
1357 For the asyndeton before pupillum cf. 2.14950, 12.46, 3.90 and on 10.176.
PUPILLUM CIRCUMSCRIPTOREM 10.222, 1.46; the ward would not himself prosecute, but bring the action through others (Ulpian Dig. 26.10.7; Kaser1
1.363, RE tutela 1556, Berger 749 s.v. tutor suspectus).
AD IURA Cf. Laus Pis. 41; technically in ius (10.87).
CUIUS refers back to PUPILLUM over CIRCUMSCRIPTOREM; cf. HS 556,
KS 2.286.
MANANTIA FLETU Catull. 101.9.
INCERTA Sexually ambiguous; compares Hor. Odes 2.5.214, |[609] where
see NisbetHubbard. The ancients favoured a hermaphroditic ideal of beauty in
boys, cf. H. Licht Sittengesch. Griechenlands (1925) 1.127 and e.g. Ovid Met. 3.607,
4.1820, 8.322, 9.712, 10.631, Auson. Epigr. 62 p. 312 Prete, Anth. Lat. 263, Athen.
13.605d, Dio Chrys. 21.3, Trag. Graec. Fr. adesp. 355 Nauck. For the long hair of
Roman boys cf. Blmner1 271 and add Mart. 12.49.
13840 ADULTAE i.e. nubilis; death then is especially tragic (cf. 12.118, Lattimore 192, E. Griessmair Das Motiv der Mors Immatura (1966) 63, Rohde 2.392 n.
2 = 576 n. 14).
MINOR IGNE too small for the fire, cf. on 4.66. Infants were regularly buried,
not cremated; cf. Latte 100 n. 3, Blmner1 487 n. 9, Onians 263, van Hoorn 94;

SATIRE fifteen539

Pliny NH 7.72.
ET MINOR ut minor Schrader, perhaps rightly.
1401 The hierophant wishes men to be of good character by proclaiming in
the (cf. on 14.45) through the voice of the herald that the wicked depart
before the ceremony, cf. Suet. Nero 34.4, SHA 18.18.2 (P. Foucart Les Mystres
dEleusis (1914) 309, G. E. Mylonas Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries (1962)
247, K. Clinton The Sacred Officials of the Eleusinian Mysteries (1974) 78). Velle often carries the stronger sense ordain. The Eleusinian mysteries were in the news
around this time because Hadrian was initiated in A.D. 1259 (Kienast Jahrb. fr
Numism. 10, 1959, 61, cf. Beaujeu 165); but the statement that he introduced the
mysteries at Rome (Aurel. Vict. Caes. 14.4) is of no credit.
FACE See Mylonas l.c. index p. 345; Bmer and Frazer on Ovid Fasti 4.493; M.
Vassits Die Fackel (1900) 15; Eitrem 178; RE Fackeln 1947. Torches were common
in mystery cults (cf. on 2.91), both for purificatory and symbolical reasons and
because such rites are usually celebrated at night.
ARCANA Cf. secreta 2.91; Cereris sacrum arcanae Hor. Odes 3.2.26; Stat. Silv.
4.8.50, Sen. Phaedr. 107, Herc. 301.
142 Ter. Haut. 77 homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto, a famous and
much-quoted verse; Sen. Ep. 88.30 nullum alienum malum putat (humanitas).
143 MUTORUM Cf. 8.56 and on the substantival use Thes. s.v. 1733.55; Sen. De
Ira 2.8.3 animalia muta in the context mentioned on 15964.
ADEO So Nisbet 238. On ideo Duff remarks the logic is dubious; because we
have the power of sympathy, therefore we have it (146). With adeo Juvenal argues
a capacity for sympathy separates us from the brutes; what is more, it is from
heaven that we have acquired a feeling that the brutes lack (Nisbet).
VENERABILE is capable of meaning reverent, but it would require |[610]
qualification (in deos, erga deos Val. Max. 1.1.15, 2.4.4) and Juvenal does not use
-bilis adjectives actively.
1437 All this is of Stoic character (cf. Zeller 34.1.203); all the themes have close
parallels in Cic. De Leg. 1.226.
144 DIVINORUM CAPACES Cf. Manil. 2.106 and the context, 4.902 and the
context (cf. on 147); Ovid Met. 1.76.
145 PARIENDIS Claudian l.c. (see the apparatus) utque artes pariat sollertia;
the reading capiendis is due to capaces. Note the hysteron proteron, for which see
HS 698.
146 SENSUM (cf. on 133) i.e. communem sensum (8.73), sympathy.
147 It is often remarked that mans erect posture distinguishes him from the
other animals; e.g. Cic. De Nat. Deor. 2.140 (where see Pease), Ovid Met. 1.846
pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram (see Bmer), Manil. 4.897906
(where the context is very like this); cf. Alfonsi Atene e Roma3 10, 1942, 59. The idea
is perhaps hinted at by Plato Tim. 90a. On the contrast between men and animals

540A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

cf. Zeller 34.1.196. See also Vretska on Sall. Cat. 1.1 (p. 32).
148 CONDITOR i.e. ; cf. Thes. s.v. 146.83. The word is so used by
the Stoics Seneca and Manilius, and also Stat. Th. 3.483.
149 ANIMAS ANIMUM Not just the breath of life, but feeling and intelligence also. Cf. Sen. Ep. 58.14, 4.4; Manil. 4.892; Nonius 426 who quotes Accius 296
and Varro Sat. Men. 32; Servius on Aen. 10.487 animus consilii est, anima vitae
[quidam secundum Epicureos volunt animum esse animae] (for
the Epicurean view see Lucr. 3.94 sqq.). Varro ap. August. CD 7.23 (Ant. Rer. Div.
1.1416 Agahd p. 200) defines animus as the highest grade of anima.
14958 The thought generally resembles Aristotle Pol. 1.2.7 (1252b15) sqq.; cf.
also Cic. De Inv. 1.2 sqq., De Rep. 1.39, Lucr. 5.101920 (with Bailey p. 1484). Juvenal insists on , societas (see Pohlenz 2.158 note on 316.1; von Arnims
index to SVF 18a and 84; Zeller 34.1.292 sqq.); cf. Sen. Ep. 95.523, who quotes
Terence referred to on 142.
150 ADFECTUS friendly feeling cf. on 12.10.
1512 Cf. Six init. and on 6.5.
156 Ovid Met. 10.375 animus vario labefactus vulnere nutat. For INGENS VULNUS cf. Verg. Aen. 10.842, 12.640.
DEFENDIER A striking archaism, cf. on 4.29. Outside epic and didactic poetry this form of the infinitive is found in Horaces hexameters, Pers. 1.28 and 3.50,
Phaedr. 4.18.14; cf. KH 693. In hexameters as here it is usually in the fifth foot
(exceptions at Hor. Serm. 1.2.78, Epist. 2.2.151). Perhaps, as 156 suggests, Juvenal
wishes to impart some epic elevation, or he may feel the form appropriate to an
account of prehistoric times. |[611]
158 TURRIBUS Lucr. 5.1440.
15964 IAM is contrasted with mundi principio 1478. The idea appears in
proverb (Otto cornix 3, canis 9, Nachtrge 145), rhetorical treatments (Sen. Contr.
2.1.10, Val. Max. quoted on 93, Pliny NH 7.5 (cf. on 133) on human rabies (cf. 126),
Libanius Decl. 12.6, Dio Chrys. 40.41) and Senecas utopian Stoicism (Ep. 95.31, De
Clem. 1.26.4; De Ira 2.8.3, for which see on 142). Cf. also Hor. Epode 7.1112.
15960 A related animal spares its spotted kin; probably not an animal of
similar spots spares its kin.
1603 An elegant demonstration of the figure polyptoton.
165 AST is elsewhere used by Juvenal only before pronouns.
166 CUM is concessive. PRODUXISSE ducere (Thes. 2148.64) is similarly used.
166 For these tools see White2 40, 43, 52, 132, and for the enumeration cf. 3.311,
with the same variation between singular and plural.
COQUERE Thes. 926.82. Nisbets (238) deletion of 167 deserves mention,
though it does not impose itself.
168 GLADIOS EXTENDERE forge long swords; for this type of compressed
expression see the references given by Fraenkel JRS 56, 1966, 1456.

SATIRE fifteen541

16971 ASPICIMUS i.e. nowadays; cf. iam 159 and 312.

POPULOS Cf. 130.
CREDIDERINT Understand qui from QUORUM, cf. HS 565, KS 2.323. Non
sufficit, res manifesta; qui crediderint, hoc est quos credidisse colligimus Housman. Inevitably some mss. read crediderunt, but Juvenal does not use -runt.
172 QUO NON FUGERET Even beyond the Sarmatians (2.1).
MONSTRA Cf. 121; PYTHAGORAS for the word-order cf. on 3.93.
173 ANIMALIBUS ABSTINUIT Cf. Sen. Ep. 108.1722, describing the influence of the semi-Pythagorean Sotion.
TAMQUAM HOMINE Cf. 14.98 of the Jews; but in the case of Pythagoras the
prohibition was due to the theory of metempsychosis, according to which a human soul might reside in an animal.
NON OMNE LEGUMEN Beans in particular were forbidden in the famous
verses:

, , .


(cf. Guthrie 1.1845; R. Arbesmann Das Fasten bei den Griechen und Rmern
(1929) 53), but Plut. Quaest. Rom. 95 mentions some other vegetables also (cf. on 9
and Arbesmann 59, A. Delatte tude sur la Litt. Pyth. (1915) 292).
In fact Pythagoras was said to have derived this prohibition from |[612] Egypt
(Plut. Quaest. Symp. 8.8.2.729a), and whether Juvenal knew this or not the lines
lose some of their point when one compares 912. Here abstinence from meat and
some vegetables indicates that cannibalism would be even more horrible, there
piety in this respect makes cannibalism even more reprehensible by contrast. Juvenals declamation is not concerned to arrive at a consistent moral evaluation of
abstinence from meat and vegetables, but only with its application for the immediate effect of whipping up the readers feelings in each context, even two opposite
applications within the same satire.
To this analysis two caveats must be entered. First, Pythagoras is differentiated from the Egyptians by TAMQUAM HOMINE, so that the poem ends by
emphasising humanitas. Secondly, Juvenals attitude to Pythagoras is not devoid
of humour (cf. 3.229); he regards him as a crank, but as a saintly one. He is quite
prepared to poke fun even at the objects of his respect (see p. 24), but it would be
totally discordant with the tone of this poem to suppose that he ends with a purely
destructive irony.

[613]

Satire Sixteen

This satire is a mere fragment which breaks off in mid-sentence. The incompleteness could be due either to mutilation of some ancestral codex at the end or to
the author, who in that case will have died leaving his work unfinished. Knoche
Grundlagen 63 argues that in the latter event the posthumous editor would have
trimmed a few lines off to give the impression of completeness. The evidence however is not sufficient to establish this, and the fact that 41 is an almost identical
repetition of another line in the same book suggests to me that Juvenal had not
given this poem its final polish.
The subject is the advantages of a soldiers life, treated in a manner which combines Juvenals earlier aggression with his later irony (see p. 13). Juvenal discusses
(tractat cf. 7) three advantages, all concerning his legal position; primum (734)
when he is prosecuted for assault on a civilian, nunc alia (3550) when he is plaintiff in a civil action, praeterea (51 sqq.) in disposing of his property by will. In the
latter two cases the civilian has no cause for complaint except jealousy; in the first
he is unable to get redress for his grievances. The whole poem is an interesting
document of the alienation of the togati (8) or pagani (33) from the army, which
became ever more pronounced in the late Empire and has been regarded by some
scholars as a main cause of its decline and fall. Some emperors, like Vespasian and
Trajan, were themselves military men and inclined to favour soldiers; others felt
the need to buy the support of the army, which was the instrument of repression
used by unpopular emperors. Hence assaults and extortions by soldiers could easily go unpunished (cf. on 10 sqq.) and increase civilians dislike of them. I have
concluded (pp. 37) that evidence linking Juvenal himself with the army is fallacious, and in this poem he fully identifies himself with the civilians (28, 37, 47);
indeed he seems to criticise Hadrian directly (15). |[614]
Bibliography on the Roman Army
G. R. Watson, The Roman Soldier (1969).
G. Webster, The Roman Imperial Army (1969).
542

SATIRE sixteen543

1 PRAEMIA (cf. 35) and COMMODA (7) are both words which have technical
senses in the Roman army (of donatives; lump sums on discharge, etc.), but here
are both used in the non-technical sense which the latter often has, e.g. CEL 986.8.
2 NAM explains felicis (with which cf. 59); there are many infelices militiae.
23 SECUNDO SIDERE cannot co-exist in an apodosis with PROSPERA in
the protasis. If recruits are lucky, may I be a lucky recruit is grotesque; the apodosis ought to say may I be a recruit. Therefore there is a gap after 2.
ME But of course the historical Juvenal was now an old man.
PORTA castrorum; EXCIPIAT cf. Tac. Hist. 3.24.
FATI HORA At ones birth; cf. 7.1945 (in a description of felicitas), 6.57781;
Pers. 5.48, on which see Housman CQ1 17, 1913, 20 = Coll. Papers 853.
56 A recruit might bring litterae commendaticiae (Thes. 3.1836.72) to his commander; Watson 37 and in ANRW 2.1.496, Davies Bnner Jahrb. 169, 1969, 216 and
229 (there is one among the Vindolanda tablets, Bowman and Thomas Historia
24, 1975, 473). Likewise he might be humorously imagined as being commended to the patron of soldiers by the latters mistress (2.31, 10.314) or mother. Juno
had strong mythological associations with Samos (RE 378 and ML 2084 s.v. Hera,
Pfeiffer on Callim. fr. 1001), and there was a huge Heraion there (RE Samos 2194).
HARENA Presumably because the Heraion is on the coast. The Sibylline oracles include a prophecy (3.363, 4.91, 8.166), which appears
to be a post eventum reference to the earthquake of A.D. 1778; but perhaps the
implied etymology is earlier.
7 TRACTEMUS The tractatio begins; cf. [Quintil.] Decl. 2.16 tractemus nunc
COMMUNIA (cf. 13.140) to all soldiers; Juvenal must later have treated or intended to treat the cases of particular groups (e.g. officers) or individuals.
8 NE ut non would be orthodox, but there is a hint of jussive and/or purpose;
cf. Livy 40.15.6 ita me gessi ne tibi pudori essem; Mart. 4.64.1920 essedo tacente
/ ne blando rota sit molesta somno, as if the house had been placed so far from the
road for this purpose. Cf. HS 6412, Handford p. 51, Hand 4.42. |[615]
TE Anyone (rather than you, Gallius, if you become a soldier).
TOGATUS A civilian (8.240, 10.8).
9 It was known for defendants to enlist in order to evade justice; Arrius
Menander Dig. 49.16.4.8, RE suppl. 10.403.12.
DISSIMULET Sc. ut from ne, cf. 13.36, on 6.1718 and KS 2.563. Ulpian Dig.
47.10.11.1 iniuriarum actio dissimulatione aboletur.
810 Cf. 3.300.
910 AUDEAT AUDEAT The repetition seems slightly ungainly to modern
taste, but cf. 1719 iustissimaiustae; 1.734 aliquid, 6.2089 amantiamantis,
2646 sumitursumpserit, 46871 fovetur, 5045 brevebrevior, 6457 mon
stramonstris, 7.1757 lautissimalautorum, 10.2567 lugetlugere, 3013 natura, 13.212 vitaevita, 14.478 pueropueri, 15.2930 scelus. See also on 8.1317

544A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

si te delectant, 10.298304 licet. Of course not all of these are of exactly the same
kind.
10 sqq. This passage raises difficult legal problems, made more difficult by the
fact that Juvenal is our only authority; and poets do not strive for legal exactitude,
nor satirists for impartiality. Evidently a civilian with a complaint against a soldier
would apply to the praetor (10; i.e. urbanus), who, as in many civil actions, would
appoint a iudex (see on 13), and this iudex would exercise summary jurisdiction
(cognitio 18). According to Juvenal he would be a centurion (cf. R. Cavenaille Corpus Pap. Lat. (1958) no. 212, where the praefectus castrorum iudicem dat a centurion), but Durry REL 13, 1935, 95 (cf. Sander Rh. Mus. 101, 1958, 229 and 103, 1960,
296) has argued that he would in fact be an vctus. Juvenal could not fit this
name into his verse and therefore (it is suggested) used that of the nearest rank
instead; evocati were now in effect corporals to the centurion-sergeants (see RE
evocatus, DE evocatio, KromayerVeith 490; Domaszewski xix and 75). Durrys
grounds are two. First, he quotes CIL 11.2108 = ILS 2146 evocatus a quaestionibus;
but CIL 6.2755 = ILS 2145 offers a fuller form of this title, evocatus a quaestionibus
praefecti praetorio, which shows that this official assisted the praefectus praetorio
in the civil jurisdiction which he gradually acquired. The second argument depends on uniform footwear. The Bardaei or Vardaei were an Illyrian tribe who
gave their name to a type of boot (1314) which Martial associates with an evocatus, 4.4.5 lassi vardaicus evocati. Ordinary soldiers wore hob-nailed caligae (24);
what did centurions wear? This question is discussed by Gilliam TAPA 77, 1946,
183. The only positive evidence for calcei is the scholiast on this passage, who may
be simply inferring from the context; other evidence is scanty, but favours caligae.
In that case the evocati will have worn calcei because they were often detached as
|[616] assistants to civil officials, and the inscriptions which contrast service in calceo with that in caliga will refer to promotion to evocatus. On the other hand the
use of the term caligati for ordinary rankers does suggest a contrast with higher
ranks like centurion, and the evidence does not suffice for a definite decision. Cf.
Taegert Hermes 106, 1978, 583 n. 55.
EXCUSSOS DENTES Lucil. 337 dentesque advorsos discutio omnes. For assaults by soldiers on civilians cf. Webster 2612, SG 1.192 = 1.220, A. S. HuntC. C.
Edgar Select Papyri (Loeb) no. 291, Libanius Or. 47.33.
OFFAM A raw lump, a bruise.
RELICTUM He has not quite lost it (6.373b), but the doctor gives no guarantee (Pliny Ep. 1.22.11 uses pllcri similarly).
IUDEX (cf. 29) is here predicative, but alludes to the phrase iudicem dare (Thes.
7.2.598.72 and Corp. Pap. Lat. l.c.), in which it is not.
BARDAICUS CALCEUS The boot indicates the wearer; cf. 24 and 3.115. With
this and grandes surae (which would be conspicuous because centurions wore
their tunics high; Quintil. 11.3.138) Juvenal hints that the iudices (or the iudex and

SATIRE sixteen545

his consilium, cf. on 3.162, 6.497) are all brawn and no brain (cf. buccae 11.34). Cf.
3.247, 14.195; Pers. 3.86 torosa iuventus and more in Otto Nachtrge 85. Because of
their size they need big benches (cf. 44) to sit on.
PUNIRE To get punished; qui facit per alium, facit per se. Cf. 3.37 and 186,
4.110, 6.4814, 7.73 and 86, 8.136; KS 1.100, Fraenkel JRS 56, 1966, 146 and references given there.
15 multo minus milites avocandi sunt a signis vel muneribus perhibendi testimonii causa, idque divus Hadrianus rescripsit Callistratus Dig. 22.5.3.6. The same
wish to avoid long absence from duty motivates the speed remarked in 3550.
Camillus is mentioned symbolically as the father of the Roman army (RSV 2.332),
not literally as having established such a rule; if there is any literal reference, it is
to the fact that in his day for the first time during the siege of Veii soldiers were
not permitted to return home at the end of the campaigning season to see to their
affairs (Livy 5.2).
1719 Spoken by an injured party in naive optimism; most people felt sceptical
about camp justice (Tac. Agr. 9.2; cf. Garnsey 248 n. 2). As 18 is punctuated by
Clausen and most editors, igitur is nonsensical and must be supposed corrupt.
Weidner however placed a comma after est and understood nec mihi in the sense
of ne mihi quidem; igitur is first word at 6.210, 9.20, 10.285. No solid objection has
been raised against this, and I accept it. For iustissimaiustae cf. on 910; for ultio
de Florus 1.45.8. Juvenal might more plainly |[617] have written iust (cf. Lucan
8.51112 iustior querellae causa), but cf. Tib. 1.4.10 causas iusti semper amoris.
For QUERELLAE cf. 13.135, Petron. 15 iudex querellam inspiceret.
20 There were three maniples in a cohort (M. Durry Les Cohortes Prtoriennes
(1938) 93 sqq.; A. Passerini Le Coorti Pretorie (1939) 68). For the rest of this paragraph Juvenal seems to have in mind particularly the soldiers of the praetorian
guard, which at this time probably had ten cohorts (Durry 801, Passerini 55, Kennedy Ancient Society 9, 1978, 275).
21 CONSENSU MAGNO For this phrase see Thes. 4.391.42.
CURABILIS requiring medical treatment (cf. curentur 13.124), a sense not
elsewhere attested for this word but defended by close analogies; placabilis ara
Verg. Aen. 7.764, 9.585. See Postgate Hermathena 17, 1913, 404 sqq., with other
parallels on 4078.
23 MULINO CORDE Cf. Otto mulus 1 (but the Plautine quotation is fictitious), Nachtrge 241; cor bubulum Mart. 14.219 in a pun. The variants are attempts
to emend a corruption mutino.
VAGELLI 13.119.
24 DUO Only two; cf. Naegelsbach 84.1.
CALIGAS CLAVORUM Caligae are the hob-nailed boots of the rankers
(see on 10 sqq.), cf. 3.248; Blmner2 1.281, 1226; Marquardt 595; clavi caligares or
caligarii cf. Thes. 3.155.47 and 54; clavarium is a special boot-allowance Tac. Hist.

546A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

3.50 (cf. calcearium); see the hob-nailed boot-sole in Guide to Antiquities of Roman Britain, British Museum,2 (1958) p. 11 fig. 5. They are personified (cf. 1314
and crura 8.115) as if they and not the soldiers were responsible for the kicking;
Caligula acquired his name from a similar personification (Suet. 9, Tac. Ann. 1.69).
25 ADSIT To support in court; Thes. s.v. 923.20.
TAM PROCUL AB URBE Juvenals readers will have laughed at this. The
praetorian camp (Lugli 4.242) was just outside (450500 metres; PlatnerAshby
106, Durry (l.c. on 20) 46, RE praetoriae cohortes 1611) the Servian wall (agger
5.153, 8.43, 6.588; on 10.95 iuxta aggerem primus posuit castra Seianus, quae dicta
sunt castra praetoria; for the agger cf. Nash 2.104, Lugli 1.148, PlatnerAshby 354,
Thes. s.v. 1308.24), between the portae Collina and Viminalis. There was an open
space between the walls and the camp, the campus Viminalis sub aggere (Platner
Ashby 95, Lugli 4.34), probably to be identified with the campus mentioned as the
exercise-ground of the praetorian cohorts (PlatnerAshby 90, Lugli 4.250, Durry
54). The camp therefore could hardly be described as tam procul ab Urbe (best
printed with a capital); the friends represent it thus as an excuse. When Tac. Ann.
4.2.1 (on Sejanus establishment of the castra praetoria) says |[618] severius acturos
si vallum statuatur procul urbis inlecebris he is giving Sejanus weak pretext.
TAM PYLADES = tam amicus, cf. Cic. Ad Fam. 9.2.2 tam Lynceus. Cf. Otto s.v.
Orestes 1, Nachtrge 114 and 196, and e.g. Callim. AP 11.362.6.
28 NON See on 3.54.
29 DA 3.137, Thes. s.v. 1694.64 (cf. Juv. 8.68); = producere 32. IUDEX cf. 13.
VIDI 7.13. Cf. Cic. 2 Verr. 5.165 adhuc enim testes ex eo genere a me sunt dati
non qui novisse Gavium, sed se vidisse dicerent.
AUDEAT ET CREDAM Cf. 6.57; et in such cases (Thes. s.v. 895.10, 894.55),
which are in effect paratactic ways of expressing a condition, is not Ciceronian
(HS 481, KS 2.5).
31 Cf. on 4.103 and 5.30; a witness like Scipio Nasica 3.137.
33 PAGANUM civilian; the word first appears in this sense in authors of this
time (the younger Pliny, Tacitus, Suetonius); cf. e.g. in a military papyrus, Cavenaille (on 10) no. 106, p. 213 xiv = R. O. Fink Roman Military Records on Papyrus
(1971) p. 108.15. The antithesis paganusmiles is hardly due to the fact that the
army no longer recruited from the peasantry (so RE paganus 2296), but rather to
the sense outsider which paganus acquired, the army regarding itself as forming a self-contained club; cf. H. Grgoire Les Perscutions dans lEmpire Romain
(Mem. Ac. Belge 56.5, 1964) 188; C. Mohrmann tude sur le Latin des Chrtiens 3
(1958) 277 sqq. = Vig. Christ. 6, 1952, 109 sqq.
34 FORTUNAM possessions 14.328.
PUDOREM honour 8.83.
35 NOTEMUS 15.45.
36 SACRAMENTORUM i.e. militiae.

SATIRE sixteen547

369 Boundary-stones are of great importance in open-field agriculture, where

properties are not separated by hedgerows. Hence the boundary-stones are sacred
(38), and their worship produced a god Terminus; cf. Latte 64, Wissowa 1368 and
in ML s.v., Ogilvie on Livy 1.55.3, Rudorff in his edition of the Gromatici 2.236 sqq.
In spite of the impiety involved, dishonest neighbours could increase their holding by surreptiously moving back the stones (ML l.c. 381.35; cf. Pliny NH 2.175);
Hadrian increased the penalty for this (Williams JRS 66, 1976, 72). See in general
RE terminus and terminus motus, F. T. Hinrichs Gesch. der Gromatischen Institutionen (1974) 174, Dilke 98 and 1056, Fustel de Coulanges 679 (Book 2 ch. 6),
NisbetHubbard on Hor. Odes 2.18.24.
37 CAMPUM sc. ruris aviti. SI is placed very late, cf. 3.173.
38 MEDIO Intervening between the two estates. A limes is a path of |[619] uncultivated land separating fields laid out on the Roman pattern of square centuriation, cf. RE 5723 and DE 1078b s.v. limes, Dilke G & R2 9, 1962, 1745, Gebert
Bnner Jahrb. 119, 1910, 158, J. Bradford Ancient Landscapes (1957) 150 and other
refs. on 369 above.
39 On the Terminalia, 23 February; Ovid Fasti 2.639 sqq., where see Bmer
and Frazer. Plut. Quaest. Rom. 15 and Numa 16 says that animate victims used not
to be offered to Terminus, and Dion. Hal. AR 2.74.4 says the same in the present
tense, but he is refuted by Ovid and Hor. Epode 2.59.
PULS The primitive offering; Wissowa 411.
PATULO Verg. Aen. 7.115.
LIBO Cf. 3.187, 6.540, Ovid and Dion. Hal. l.c., RE s.v.
40 SUMPTOS sc. mutuos, borrowed.
41 is almost identical with 13.137; this has brought some suspicion on the line,
but its removal would leave 40 a disproportionately brief anticlimax. For other
such repetitions see on 1.24, 10.365; this instance is more surprising as both occurrences come within the same book.
42 Two essential preliminaries. First, Clausen does not record that U reads
incohat and P seems to have originally read the same, though the scribe himself
altered it to incohet. Second, the meaning and use of exspectare. The accusative
after this verb can indicate either the point of time which one awaits or the period
during which one waits. Mayor (we must wait a year for the beginning of the
hearing of the whole nations litigation) and Duff (I must wait for a year (i.e.
a long time) before the hearing of the suits of the whole people begins) assume
the latter; but then to make sense the Latin must be twisted to a meaning which it
cannot bear (Duff has to translate qui as before).
Servius comments on Aen. 2.102 in ordinem dicebantur causae propter multitudinem vel tumultum festinantium, cum erat annus litium; then he quotes this
verse (with incohet). There is no other authority for the phrase annus litium, but
the explanation is right. The courts generally conducted their business during

548A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

the months JanuaryOctober (Balsdon1 80 and 21213, RE actus rerum 332; cf. on
6.68), and there was a legal vacation (res prolatae) during November and December. Juvenals meaning must be that civilians have to wait until January for redress, but annus on its own cannot mean New Year. There is however a Latin idiom whereby annus (cf. Thes. s.v. 120.3) is applied to a part of a year, e.g. Stat. Silv.
4.4.40 piger annus of the judicial vacation (cf. Gow on Theocr. 7.85 and the similar
use of axis and orbis, for which see on 8.116). But the word in this sense requires
|[620] adjectival qualification, which would be given in straightforward fashion by
qui incohat; and I regard this reading with favour. If the subjunctive is right it cannot be final, which would be most natural but would produce nonsense, but must
be due to the psychological influence of the idea of waiting until. The passage has
given rise to complex discussions by students of Roman law, among which I single
out Mommsen Ges. Schr. 4.110.
Juvenal adds that the plaintiff must not only await the beginning of legal term,
but even longer, for everybodys case is then before the court; this is naturally
exaggerated, though for the mass of litigation cf. Parks 55 and for other remarks
about the laws delays J. M. Kelly Roman Litigation (1966) 123 (Pliny Ep. 6.2.5 sqq.
gives the answer of the legal establishment to such complaints).
A novel explanation of this passage has been propounded by M. O. Behrends,
Die Rm. Geschworenenverfassungen (1970) 31 sqq. and passim. He argues that
at the beginning of each year those who planned to embark on a suit during the
year to be heard by a single iudex had to apply to the praetor, who then compiled
a fixed calendar of legal actions for the whole year, so that anyone who from February onwards decided to start such a legal action would have to wait until the
next January. This explanation would give more point to Juvenals complaint as
it would suit plaints filed at any point of the year, whereas on the explanation
suggested above only those who began actions late in the year would be likely to
be subject to delay. But the evidence alleged to prove that the Romans could have
conducted their legal business in such an amazing way is thin and unclear.
434 MILLE TAEDIA Mart. 12.82.14.
SUBSELLIA cf. 14; RE 504 and DS 1551b n. 14 s.v., Blmner1 121 n. 5. The benches are laid out (cf. 9.52) and no more; i.e. they are not actually used.
PONENTE LACERNAS (poetic plural, cf. 6.118). These were worn over the
toga (9.29), but one had to speak togatus (cf. 2.70, 8.49; Suet. Aug. 40.5 ne quem
posthac paterentur (aediles) in foro circave nisi positis lacernis consistere; Lydus De
Mag. 3.8).
CAEDICIO 13.197, where he is a iudex.
FUSCO 12.45, if the same man is meant; Mart. 7.28.56 mentions an orator
Fuscus, but respectfully.
MICTURIENTE Friedlaender thinks that excitement had this effect on Fuscus.
It is however more likely that the word is used without any desiderative force (cf.

SATIRE sixteen549

HS 298) equivalent to mingente (cf. 6.309). Fuscus realises that he will have to
stay in court for some time and is taking the precaution of going to the lavatory
beforehand. The |[621] drunken iudex portrayed by Titius ap. Macrob. Sat. 3.16.16
(ORF3 p. 202) has to leave the court for this purpose.
PARATI DIGREDIMUR Pliny Ep. 5.9 describes a similar sudden adjournment
(remarking numquam ita paratus sum ut non mora laeter).
47 LENTA This word, placed emphatically first in its clause, conveys the main
notion, as if it were lenta est fori harena in qua pugnamus. Here it primarily conveys the notion slow, but also suggests that the sand of the forum, in which gladiatorial fights often took place, had been turned into a sticky, clinging paste (cf.
Cato De Agr. 40.2) by blood. For the gladiatorial metaphor of HARENA applied
to orators cf. Sen. Contr. 3 pr. 13, Pliny Ep. 6.12.2, for PUGNAMUS 7.173.
48 The reason for avoiding delay with soldiers is as noted on 15.
BALTEUS The sword-belt 6.256; balteus ambit ends the line at Germanicus 191
(cf. Val. Fl. 3.189).
50 SUFFLAMINE 8.148.
RES ATTERITUR Their property (RES) is like a wheel worn away by the friction
of the brake. Cf. Suet. Galba 3.4 attritis facultatibus; Pliny Ep. 8.12.3 si litibus tererer.
51 sqq. A soldier, like any other citizen, was in manu patris (RE potestas patria
1138). Citizens in this position could in practice own property, though strictly it
was not a right but an act of grace and the property was (like a slaves) peculium.
But soldiers had a formal right to money gained on military service (peculium
castrense; RE peculium 15, Dig. 49.17, Kaser1 344, Berger s.v., RE suppl. 10.400) and
could formally dispose of this by will (Dig. 29.1 is De Testamento Militis; cf. Campbell JRS 68, 1978, 157, RE suppl. 10.398), whereas civilians could not bequeath their
peculium. See Sander Rh. Mus. 101, 1958, 170 and 200; Daube2 77; Garnsey 2489;
B. dOrgeval LEmpereur Hadrian (1950) 349 and (for Hadrians enactments on
the subject) 87; Schiller in Festgabe U. von Lbtow (1970) 302.
LABORE Cf. 57; often of military service (Thes. s.v. 790.20).
CORPORE A legal use; see VIR s.v. iv.
54 CORANUM It appears to be mere coincidence that this is the name of the
recoctus scriba ex quinqueviro at Hor. Serm. 2.5.5569 who disappoints the hopes
of his captator (on 3.128) father-in-law. There Coranus seems to be an old man
who has married a young wife, and his age is the reason why his father-in-law
captat; here the reason why the father captat the son is that a soldier is always
liable to be killed on service. That would make this particularly horrible to ancient
thought, which abhorred the death of children before their parents (cf. on 10.240
sqq.); but here the father virtually wishes for it. The name Coranus is used by
Mart. 4.37.1, 9.98. |[622]
CASTRORUM AERA MERENTEM For this standard phrase see Thes.
1.1076.13, 8.803.31.

550A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

TREMULUS 10.198.
56 FAVOR (corrupted via fabor and the influence of labori 57) AEQUUS The
advancement that is his due, cf. Hor. Epist. 2.1.9. and sua dona (the appropriate
reward) 57.
PROVEHIT So used in the Vita Iuvenalis and often; cf. on 1.39.
PULCHRO Sil. It. 15.267 pulchroque labori of soldiers.
DONA sc. militaria (Thes. s.v. 2018.80), including phalerae (medals; RE s.v.),
torques etc.; likewise phaleris etc. donatus. On military decorations see Watson
114, Webster 133, Bttner Bnner Jahrb. 157, 1957, 127.
DUCIS The emperor.

[624]

Appendix: Juvenal and Lucian

It is to be expected that two writers of a satirical bent, living close in time to each
other (Lucian seems to have been born just before the death of Juvenal) in a very
similar social and political milieu, should in their writings show points of contact;
and accordingly my notes adduce a number of parallels from Lucian to the thought
and phraseology of Juvenal. It has however sometimes been suspected that the
relationship between the two is closer than this; that Lucian knew the work of
Juvenal, that he imitated it, and even made some of his points to counter it (a view
propounded in particular by R. Helm Lucian und Menipp (1906) 21822; cf. Highet 252 n. 1, 296 n. 1). A decision on the correctness of such contentions is not to be
reached on general grounds, such as the knowledge, or lack of knowledge, of Latin
literature and of literary Latin possessed by Greek writers (it is certain that Lucian
knew some administrative Latin). Allusions to commonplace events of life, such
as the early morning rounds of clients, contribute nothing to proof unless there
is some special closeness in setting or in turn of thought or phrase. Again, resemblances scattered through the writings of both carry no weight since, as explained
above, they are naturally to be looked for; unless of course there is some particular
feature which makes dependence unmistakeable. Before enquiring whether there
are any such instances, this appendix assembles the passages of Lucian which can
in my judgment with validity be related to the 3rd and 5th satires of Juvenal, the
only two poems which present a sustained series of resemblances; we have to decide whether these are due merely to community of theme. The three dialogues
of Lucian mainly concerned are his De Mercede Conductis (
), Nigrinus and Saturnalia ( ). It will help if I begin with
an outline of the contents of these; this will facilitate understanding of the context
in which each specific parallel occurs. |[625]
The De Mercede Conductis On Salaried Attendants is a
addressed to Timocles (as Juvenal 5 to Trebius), and attacks the life led by educated Greeks who attach themselves to the households of great Roman lords and
ladies; especially philosophers, but grammarians, rhetoricians and musicians are
551

552A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

also singled out. Discussion of this theme could be read as an answer to Juvenals
attack on such Greeks, 3.58125. Their main motive for such employment is poverty, but they are not well-paid; in some cases it is old age or sickness, but they are
forced to work hard; in others, pleasure or greed, but they are always tantalised
by hopes of attaining their wishes, and nothing beyond hopes; or finally snobbery.
The main body of the work then discusses (10) what they put up with before they
are received, (21) what they endure when they have been received, (39) the miserable outcome.
The Nigrinus opens with a dedicatory letter saying how deeply Lucian has been
affected by the words of the philosopher Nigrinus. The dialogue proper begins
with a conversation between Lucian and a friend (112); he then reports how Nigrinus, who lives at Rome, lectured him, as Umbricius lectured Juvenal (both Lucian and Juvenal are passive listeners who do not interrupt). Nigrinus first praises
Greece and especially Athens (1214), then (1534) denounces life at Rome; we
may recall how Umbricius sets up an antithesis between Rome and the little country towns. First there is a preliminary review of Roman vices; Juvenal too sketches
the coming themes in 3.79 and 214. These make Nigrinus withdraw into his own
house (18), as Umbricius withdraws to Cumae. Then he reviews the relationships
of rich and poor, the prevalent arrogance and servility, making special mention
of toady philosophers (215), and proceeds to attack the hubbub of the city, the
circus etc. (29); thus we have a scheme very like the parts marked out as II and III
in my analysis of Juvenals poem.
The Saturnalia, the general theme of which is the treatment of the poor by the
rich at festival-time, begins with a dialogue between Cronus and his priest (19).
Then (1018) laws, (1718), are given for the conduct of the gods
festival: all are to drink the same wine and no special beverage is to be reserved for
the host; all are to be served equal portions of the same meat, and the waiters are
to show no |[626] favour; toasts are to be allowed to anyone, and the wine-waiter
is to be attentive. There follow letters from Lucian to Cronus (1924), Cronus to
Lucian (2530), Cronus to the rich (315), and the rich to Cronus (369), clearing
up some practical points.
Now I list the actual resemblances in the order in which they occur in Lucian.
De Mercede Conductis
1. The alleged relationship of is really , dependants become o
(2; a point elsewhere repeated, e.g. in 7 quoted below). Cf. Juv.
3.125; 5.127, 161, 173.
2. Philosophers put up with maltreatment fit only for ;
are no less to blame than o . Cf. Juv. 5.34, 1704.

Appendix553

7. ,
, ,
. Cf. Juvenal 5.67.
10. . Cf. Juv. 3.180.
13.
. Cf. Juv. 5.1615.
15. (Cf. 29 and 39). The hireling is suspect with regard to the masters sons and
wife, cf. Juv. 3.10912.
17. (i.e. ; cf.
Juv. 382)
(cf. 3.1245).
,
, (cf. 3.601,
119).
24. ,
, ,
. . Cf. Juv. 5.1612.
26. (cf. Juv. 5.121), ,
,
, |[627] ,
, (cf. 5.9, 1145, 1668; but in
Juvenal the client does not actually get any at all of this course)

(cf. 5.2437) ,
(cf. 5.623).
27. (i.e. cinaedi etc.;
cf. Juv. 14.30) ; ,


. Cf. Juv. 3.41, 778.
30. .
,
. Cf. Juv. 3.104.
35. One must admire the writings of the patron and praise his beauty, his solecisms must become standard usage; cf. Juv. 3.41 sqq., 86 sqq.
3940. Slander causes your ejection (cf. Juv. 3.1225),

554A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal

,

. Cf. Juv. 3.778.
Nigrinus
17.
; cf. Juv. 3.41.
20.
,
, , ,
, ,

, . Cf.
Juv. 3.3940; but Lucians point is essentially different.
21. <> (i.e.
) . Cf. Juv. 3.185. |[628]
22. ,
(cf. Juv. 3.127, specifically of the pauper, as Lucian; 5.19
23), (orbem 5.21)
. (= orbem)
(cf. 5.12 and 77)
(cf. 5.9).
Saturnalia
22. ,
, ,
(civiliter 5.112), . At present in the
case of the poor a servant passes by
(cf. 5.803, 121 spectes)
, ,
.
, whereas at
present the poor man may get . Cf. 5.2437, 623.
323. (the poor) (cf.
5.1517), ,
(cf. 5.9) ,
, .
(cf.

Appendix555

5.623). Moreover the servants carrying the meat run past the poor.
(cf. 18 and Juv. 5.128),
,
(cf. 5.37 sqq.).
It will be apparent that even where there are undeniable resemblances between
Lucian and Juvenal, these often occur in different settings and with different applications, and that no single instance requires explanation by imitation. Nevertheless there is a certain cumulative weight, though this cannot be taken as any
form of proof in itself, and similarities in structure do impress. A resemblance not
quoted above which does seem to me to carry weight is adduced on 5.52, and a
cluster of |[629] parallels between Juvenal 2 (see on 4, 50, 91) and Lucians Adversus
Indoctum is striking (see also on 12.95). But most important of all is the not obvious joke very similar to Juv. 10.32 quoted from De Morte Peregrini 45 on 10.2830.
It seems to me very unlikely that this joke, in Lucian applied to Democritus, not
to Heraclitus, could have occurred independently to Lucian and Juvenal; nor can
it come from a common source, since Juvenals source is Seneca, who does not
have the joke. I therefore conclude that Lucian probably knew and imitated the
writings of Juvenal; the precise significance which this has for the interpretation
of the works of Lucian I leave to students of that author.

Indi ce s

I. NAMES
This is provided by Clausen. A few additions and adjustments need to be made.
(Abdera) 10.50
(Aemilius) 8.192
Auster 14.268
Bona Dea 2.867, 6.314
(L. Junius) Brutus, cf. 8.262
(Cabiri) 3.144
Caesar 7.1 not Trajan but Hadrian
Campus (Martius) 2.132, cf. 6.525
Cerdo, see Index III
(Cinnamus) 1.245
Claudius, see Caesar and Drusus
Cornelius, see Numantinus
Corus 14.268
Cyclas, cf. 13.246

Dacius, read Dacicus

Etruscus, cf. Tuscus
(Gabba) 1.57
(Tiberius Iulius Alexander) 1.130
Lupercus 2.142
Megalesia, cf. 14.263
(Ostia) 12.75
Quinquatrus 10.115
Romulus, see Quirinus
(Siren) 9.150
Tullius (Servius), cf. 8.259
(Valerius Licinianus) 7.198
(Vindicius) 8.266

II. SUBJECT-MATTER
8.220 sqq. (Nero), (10.251), 15.29
Costume: masks 3.175, 6.70, O.25, 8.229; cothurnus 6.634, 7.72, 15.29; syrma 8.229, 15.30;
subligar 6.70; fibula 6.73
Scenery etc.: pegma, velaria 4.122; aulaea
6.67, 14.203; siparium 8.186; pulpitum 3.174,
14.257; tribunal of praetor 8.194
See also Ludi
Adultery, see Women
Africa: olive oil 5.89; grain 5.119, 8.117; truffles
5.119; bulbi 7.120; orators 7.149; apes 10.194;
elephants, see Animals
Age: iuventus 2.155, senectus 3.26, 10.188 sqq.,
13.16, 33, 14.197; respect for elders 13.55; hot
youth, cold old age 6.325, 369, 10.217, 11.6;
seven-year periods 14.10; longevity of crow
and deer 10.247, 14.251
Ages of the World 6 init., 13.2830, 57, 15.65 sqq.
Agriculture: in early Rome 11.89, 14.161 sqq., cf.
pp. 1819; saltus 7.189, 9.54; latifundia 8.180,

Accounts, see Money

acta diurna 2.136, (6.483), 7.104, 9.84
Acrobats 3.77, 14.265
Actors, drama, theatre: 3.93100 (Haemus
6.198), 6.67 sqq., 8.118, 18599, (Nero) 220
sqq., 14.25664
In country towns 3.173
exodia, Atellan farces 3.1735, 6.71
Lex Roscia, 14 rows, orchestra, seating 3.154,
178, 14.323, (7.43)
spectacula (seats), cunei 6.61
Cushions 3.154, 6.353, (7.47)
Toga worn by audience 3.179
Children in audience 3.176
Mime 1.36, 5.171, 6.44, O.25, 8.18699, 13.110,
(5.157)
Pantomime 6.63, 87, 7.87 sqq., (10.214)
Comedy 3.93100, 6.O.25, 396, (5.157)
Fabula togata 1.3
Tragedy 1.46, 6.74, 396, 634, 643, 7.12, 72,

556

SUBJECT-MATTER557
14.159; aggrandisement of rich 14.145, 16.36;
limes, terminus 16.38; allotments 14.163;
mercenarii 8.246; implements 3.311, 15.166;
ergastula 8.180, 11.80; in Apulia 4.27, 6.150,
9.54; in Etruria and Lucania 8.180
Amber 6.573, 9.50; 5.38, 14.307?
Amici Caesaris 4.74, 88
Animals: wild, as pets 7.76; tamed with flagra
5.154, 10.109; performing 5.154; elephants
10.150, 158, 11.1247, 12.102 sqq.; dogs 6.654,
8.34, 9.61, watch-dogs 6.415, 9.104, 14.64;
race-horses 8.57 sqq., phalerae for horses
11.103; asses 6.334, 9.92, 8.67; mules 3.31617,
4.5, 7.1801, 8.148; sheep 6.150, 8.15; oxen for
breeding and traction 14.1467; lizard 3.231;
beaver 12.34; cat 15.7; see also Food, Wagons
Antiquarian taste in literature, see Poets
Aquarius 6.332
Argentarii, see Banking
Army: cf. pp. 39; 16 passim
Centurions, 14.193 sqq.; vitis of 8.247, 14.193; as
iudices 16.17 sqq.
Tribunes, pay of 3.132
Militia equestris, see Equites; sacramentum
16.36
Aquilae 8.52, 14.197; phalanx 2.46
Boots 3.248, 16.13, 245
Decorations 16.60; helmet 1.169, 8.238; paludamentum 6.400; balteus 16.48
Triumph 2.159 (traduco 2.159, 7.16, 8.17, 11.31),
8.143 (statue), 10.36 sqq., 136 (arch), 280
Trophy 10.133
Music 1.169, 14.199, 15.52
Ars (treatise) 6.452, 7.177
Arson 8.2325, 9.98, 13.145
Art, works of art and artists, art-collecting: 1.76,
2.7, 3.217, 6.156, 8.102, 9.22, 11.102, 12.43
pictores 3.76, 9.146
Arx 4.145
Astrology 3.42, 6.553 sqq., 10.94, 14.248
Athletics 3.68, 76, 115, 6.356; and women 2.53,
6.246, 421; ceroma 3.68, 6.246; diet 2.53;
halteres 6.421; unctor, aliptes 3.76, 6.422
Auctions 3.33, 6.255, 7.7; praecones 3.157, 7.6,
8.95
Bandits 3.306, 10.202
Banking 10.25, 13.15
Bankruptcy 3.33, 7.129, 11.43, 50, 14.94; decidere
12.33
Baths 1.142, 6.375, 7.4, 130, 233, 8.168, (9.35),

11.4, 156; private 6.419, 7.178; hours of public

6.419, 11.204; charge for 2.152, 6.447; oil,
strigils etc. 3.262, 5.90; taken hot 6.425; sudatorium 6.420; concha 6.419; exercise before
bath 6.421 (see also Athletics)
Bay of Naples 3.4, 12.80, 14.87
Beard, Shaving, Barbers, Male haircuts 1.25 and
10.226, 4.103, 5.30, 6.15, 26, 105, 215, O.6, 8.17,
166, 13.56, 14.216, 16.31; of philosophers 2.15,
14.12; of pueri delicati 3.186; pueri capillati
6.3778, 8.128, 11.149; hair worn long by free
boys 15.137; hair shaved as thanksgiving 12.81
Beauty, criteria of 2.93, 12.116, 15.137
Beggars 3.16, 296, 4.116, 5.8, 6.543, 9.139, 14.134,
301
Benefactor related to gods 5.132
Birds (a selection): storks in Temple of Concord
1.116, carrier pigeons 4.149, peacock 1.143,
7.32, passer 9.54; see also Food
Birthday 5.37, 11.84, 12.1
Board games 1.90, 11.132
Boats, see Sailors
Books, Libraries, Writing materials: 1.56, 3.207,
219, 6.338, 483, 7.23, 37, 100; foruli 3.219,
armaria 7.11, cistae 3.206, 7.11, scrinia 6.278,
capsae 10.117; wax tablets (see also Captatio)
1.63, 6.233, 277, 10.55, 13.137, 14.29, 191, 16.41;
(e)volvere = read 6.452, 10.126, 15.30; lectus
of writer 7.105; busts in libraries 7.29
Britain and Ireland 2.159, 4.126, 141, 10.14,
14.196, 15.111, 124
Burial and Death 1.171, 3.172, 267, 4.109, 5.55,
85, 7.208, 8.146, 10.119, 240, 259, 13.129,
15.13840; efferre 1.72, 6.175, 567, 14.220;
undertakers 3.32, 8.174, (12.122); see also
Epitaphs
Cakes at domestic celebrations 3.187, 6.202; see
also Religion, offerings
Calpurnius Siculus 7 intr., 55
Captatio, inheritance, wills, legacies: 1.3741,
3.161, 6.216, 600, 8.142, 10.236
captatio 3.129, 4.1819, 5.98, 137, 6.39, 548,
10.202, 12.93 sqq., 16.51 sqq.
Limitations on inheritance 1.55, 2.30, 589,
6.38, 9.87, 12.95
Disinheritance 10.236, 14.55
Forgery 1.68, 8.142
tabulae 1.68, 2.58, 4.19, 6.601, 10.236, 14.55
Castra 4.135
Catullus 6.7

558 INDEX
Causidici 1.32, 6.439, 7.106, 8.479, 10.121
Cerdo 4.153, 8.182
Children: tollere 6.38, 9.84; house decorated at
birth 9.85; regarded as purpose of marriage
2.138, 6.162; exposure and supposition
6.602; cradle 6.89; nurses 6.354, 593, 14.208;
toys and games 5.143, 9.61; beaten with
sandals 6.612; amulet 5.164, 13.33, 14.5; bring
benefits in law 6.38, 9.8790, 12.95; lack of
invites captatio, see s.v.; feminine ideal of
beauty in boys 15.137
Circus and circus games (see also Ludi) 3.65,
223, (5.143), 6.58291, 7.114, 8.57 sqq., 118,
10.36 sqq., 81, 11.53, 193 sqq.
Clients, comites 3 intr., 5 passim; amici p. 20 and
passim; attend patron 1.46, 3.284, 6.353, 7.131,
142, 10.44, 13.32; salutatio 3.127, 184, 5.19, 76,
6.312, 7.91, 10.90, (160); sportula 1.95126,
10.46, 13.323; several patrons 1.122, 5.21; rex
= patron 1.136, 5.14; presents from patron
5.32, 9.2831, 59; indifference of patron 1.94,
132 sqq., 3.1245, 5 passim; officium see p.
18; toga worn by, see Clothing; upper-class
1.100, 3.128; butt at meals 5.171; parasitus
1.139, 5.145, 14.46; family life of 1.134, 5.141; at
recitation 7.43, cf. 13.32
Climate and Weather: dog-days 3.9; unhealthy
weather in late summer and autumn 3.9,
4.56, 6.517, 10.221, 14.229; showery spring
4.87, 5.78, 116, 9.501; alleged to influence
intelligence 10.50
Clothing and Textiles
Toga worn by clients 1.96, 119 (with calcei,
cf. 3.149), 3.127, 7.142; worn in theatre and
circus 3.179, 11.204; worn by lawyers 8.49,
16.45; contrasted with war and soldiers 8.49,
240, 10.8, 16.8; expense of 3.180; draped on
dead 3.172; not worn in country 3.171; sinus
of 9.33, used to carry money 1.88, cf. 7.215,
14.327; worn by prostitutes and convicted
adulteresses 2.70; rasa 2.97; praetexta 1.78,
2.170, 10.308, 11.155 (see also Magistrates)
Tunic, worn by country magistrates 3.179;
latus and angustus clavus 1.106
Lacerna 1.27, 3.148, 9.28, 10.212, 14.287, 16.45;
worn by a woman 1.62
Abolla 3.115, 4.76; sagum 6.591; paludamentum
6.400; paenula 5.79; laena 3.283, 5.131, 7.73;
trabea 8.259, 10.35; endromis 3.103, 6.246;
pallium 3.95, 6.236; palla 10.262; cyclas 6.259
Subligar 6.70; segmenta 2.124
Coloured clothing 2.97, 6.O.22, 519, 7.136 (see

also Purple); cloth of gold 6.482

Footwear: calcei 16.14 and see toga; caligae
3.322, 16.24; gallica 7.16; socci and cothurni
6.506; solea 6.612; pero 14.186; trechedipna
3.67; senatorial and patrician 7.192; ligulae
5.20; cobbling 3.150
Head covering: cucullus 3.170, 6.118, 330, 8.145;
mitra 3.66, 6.516; redimicula 2.84; tiara
6.516, 10.267; reticulum 2.96
zona = purse 14.297, cf. 8.120; sacculus 11.27,
14.138; loculi 1.89, 10.46, 11.38, (13.139); crumina 11.38; see also 14.281 and toga, sinus of
nudus 4.49, 100, 6.O.12, 525, 14.308
Clothes hitched up or removed for working
(cf. nudus) 3.94, 4.24, 49, 8.162
Checked clothes 2.97; transparent 2.78; papyrus apron 4.24
Spinning and weaving 2.54, 6.476, 7.224, 8.43,
9.30, 12.65
Gallic textiles 6.537, 7.221, 8.145, 9.30; Spanish
12.40; from Canusium 6.150
multicia 2.66, 11.188; silk 6.260
Comites: Caesaris 4.84; of provincial governor
3.47, 8.127; see also Clients
Commerce, imports, self-sufficiency 6.287 sqq.,
11.117, 12.38 sqq., 14.267
Conscience 13.192 sqq.
Consilium 3.162, 6.497; of emperor 4 passim
Country and town 3 intr.; cf. pp. 1819
Creation of man 6.13 and see Prometheus, Titan
in Clausens index
Cross-roads 6.412, 7.55, 9.112
Daily routine 1.49, 127 sqq., 143; early start to day
7.2224, 14.190; social obligations, officium
3.239 and see p. 18; bath 3.261, 6.419, 11.204;
timekeeping 10.216; abnormal routine 4.137,
6.302
Dancing 5.121, 15.49; cinaedi 6.O.19; cf. Actors,
pantomime
Death, see Burial
Delatores 1.336 (cf. p. 65), 3.116, 4.48 sqq., 81,
113, 10.69
Depilation 2.12, 8.16, 114, 9.14, 95, 11.157
Deposit of money 13 passim; 14.260
Destiny, Fate, Fortune 2.16, 5.133, 6.605, 7.197,
9.32, 10.285, 3656, 16.4; ante fatum mori
12.62, 14.249
Diadem 8.259, 13.39, 105
Dice see Gambling
Dispensator 1.91, 7.219
Doctors, illness, medicine: 2.13, 141, 3.77, 4.6, 56,

SUBJECT-MATTER559
5.24, 32, 6.46, 373, 579, 7.51, 161, 9.17, 10.221,
13.97, 125, 14.58; see also Clausens index s.v.
Archigenes; curare = treat 13.124, 16.21
Domitian: as censor 2.30, 121, 3.153, 4.12; as
dominus 4.96; incest with Julia 2.29
Drama, see Actors
Dwarfs (3.203), 8.32
Education: 14 passim. Patronage and festival of
Minerva 10.115; begins at seven 14.10; begins
with Greek 14.209; grammaticus and rhetor
1.15, 3.76, 6.438, 452, 7.150 sqq.; paedagogus 6.633, 7.218; capsarius 10.117; corporal
punishment 1.15; morals 7.238 sqq., 10.224;
geometry taught in Greek 3.76; historiae
6.450, 7.231; suasoria 1.16; hire of teachers
15.112; metaphor of moulding 7.237
Effeminacy and homosexuality: 2 and 9 passim,
6.34, 272, O.1 sqq., 10.295 sqq.; cinaedi
6.O.19, 14.30; lex Scantinia 2.44; voice 2.111,
(3.91), 6.O.9 and 23; gait 2.17, 21 (cevere),
6.O.26; mollis 3.99 etc.; morbus 2.17, 9.49;
obscenus 2.9, 6.O.2, 513; ephebus 2.164,
10.306; actors 3.99; transvestism 2.83; marriage 2.117; fossa, fodere 2.10, 9.45; see also
Baths and Education, morals
Egypt and Egyptians 15 passim, 1.26, 130, 6.83,
11.124; impudence 4.31; see also Oriental
Cults, Isis
Emperors: compared with Jupiter 6.619, 8.92;
related to gods 6.115; pulvinar 6.132; pater
patriae 8.243; rex 6.614c; ducis indulgentia
7.21; levees 4.64; saeculum 4.68; Augusta
= Caesars wife 6.118; Augustus 2.28, 8.242;
Nero 2.(117), 147, 8.211 sqq., 10.308; Domitian, see s.v.; Trajans campaigns 6.205, 407,
8.51; Hadrian 7 intr., 15.140, 16.15
Epiphany, see Religion, Deities
Epitaphs 6.54, 162, 230, 289, 7.207
Equites: militia equestris 1.58, 7.88; singled out
by the emperor for promotion 10.95; census
1.60, 106, 2.117, 3.155, 5.132, 9.140, 14.323;
gold ring 7.89, 11.42, (129); seats in theatre,
see Actors; clavus on tunic 1.106; lose status,
3.154, 11.42; trabea 10.35; foreign, freedmen
1.106, 7.14
Eunuchs 1.22, 2.115, 3.91, 6.366 sqq., 514
Eupolis 2.92
Execution, see Prison
Exile 1.49, 73, 6.557 sqq., 10.170, 11.49, 13.246; see
also pp. 4 sqq.

Fate, see Destiny

Fable and Folk-tale 5.132, 6.363, 431
Family, perpetuation of 6.22, 38, 162, 602
Fish, Fishing, Fishermen: 4 passim, 5.80 sqq.;
pickling 4.33, 43; turbot 4 passim, 11.121; lupus (bass) 5.104; mullet 4.15, 5.92, 6.40, 11.37;
siluri 4.33, 14.132; pelamys 7.119; lacertus
14.131; lamprey 5.99; eel 5.103; gobio 11.37;
shell-fish 5.815; echinus 4.143; oysters 4.140,
6.302, 8.85, 11.49
Folk-tale, see Fable
Food (see also Fish):
Vegetables 11.58, 79, 15.9; cabbage 1.134, 5.87;
leeks 3.293, 14.133, 15.9; beans 3.293, 14.131;
bulbi 7.120; asparagus 5.82, 11.68
Bread and baking 5.2, 11, 67 sqq., 7.4, 8.67,
10.81. Grain imported 8.117, distributed
7.174. pultes, farrata 11.58, 108, 14.171. Cakes
at weddings 6.202; placentae 11.59; adipata
6.631; libarius 9.109; see also Religion,
offerings
Fruit 3.83, 5.149, 11.71
Meat from sacrifices 11.85; pork 7.119, 11.824;
volva 11.81, sumen 2.86, 11.138, sinciput 13.85;
mutton 3.294; goat 11.66; ofella 11.144; capon
5.115, 168; chicken 5.124, 11.135; eggs 5.84,
11.71; foie gras 5.114
Game 11.138 sqq.; boar 1.140, 5.115, 167, 11.138;
damma 11.131; peacock 1.143; hare 5.124,
167, 11.138; turtur 6.39; ficedula 14.9; vivaria
(3.308), 4.51
Truffles 5.116, 14.7; mushrooms 5.147, 14.8
Olive oil and olives 3.85, 5.86; vinegar 3.292,
13.85.
Macellum 5.95, 6.40, 11.10, 64; gastronomy,
gula 1.94, 135 sqq.; 14.7 sqq.; 4, 5, 11 passim;
cooks, structores, carptores 5.120, 7.184,
9.109, 11.136; portable stoves 3.250
Forgery 1.67, 8.142
Fortune, see Destiny
Freedmen: at patrons banquets 5.28, at recitations 7.43, as agent in divorce 6.146, wealthy
1.102, cf. Equites; freedwomen married to
ingenui 5.141; referred to as servus 3.131
Funerals, see Burial
Furniture:
Beds and couches 6.21, 80, 594, 11.948; lectus
of writer 7.105; pulvinar 6.132; pluma 1.159,
6.88, 10.362; culcita 5.17; lodex 7.66; cadurcus
6.537, 7.221; pallia 6.236
Tables 1.75, 137, 7.11?, 11.117 sqq.
abacus 3.204; cista 6.44 (for this, scrinia, and

560 INDEX
armaria see also Books); arcae 1.90, 3.143,
11.26, 13.74, 14.259 etc.
cathedrae 6.91, 7.47, 9.52; of teachers 7.203
lamps 5.878, 6.131, 7.99, 225, 12.92; brazier
3.102
scaphium 6.264; matella 10.64
Gambling 1.8893, 8.10, 11.132, 176, 201, 14.4
Garlands 5.36, 6.297, 9.128, 11.122, 15.50; for the
Lares 9.137, 12.87; on temples and altars
12.845; on houses 6.51, 7.118, 9.85, 10.65,
12.91; on victim 13.63
Gaul: rhetoric 1.44, 7.148, 214, 15.111; horsemanship 8.66, 157; textiles, see Clothing
Geography 2.1, 161, 14.27983
Gestures etc. 1.160, 2.130, 3.106, 6.306, 7.112,
10.53
Gigolos 11.37, 6.355 sqq., 9.134, 10.311 sqq.
Gladiators, amphitheatre etc.: 4.121, 6.O.7 sqq.
murmillo 6.81, 8.200; pinnirapus 3.158; retia
rius 2.143, 6.O.9, 8.203; Thraex 6.256, 8.201;
Samnis 6.256
Well-born amateurs 2.143, 6.O.9, 8.199 sqq.,
11.5; women 1.22, 6.247; travelling companies
3.34, 6.82; attractive to high-born women
6.81 sqq.; venationes 1.22, 4.99; food of 11.20;
remuneration of 7.243; wills of 6.217; professional names 6.105; ludus 6.82, O.12, 8.199,
11.20; prison in ludus 6.O.13; rudis 6.113,
248, 7.171; exercise at palus 6.247; lanista
3.158, 6.216, O.7, 11.8; ludia (contubernalis of
gladiator) 6.266
editores of munera 3.36; committere 1.163,
6.436; music at performances 3.34; sign for
execution 3.36; podium in amphitheatre
2.147
Golden Age, see Ages of the World
Greeks, pp. 212; perjury of 6.16; Greek spoken
at Rome 3.63, 6.185
Hair-dressing (of women; for men see Beard)
2.96, 6.490 sqq.; acus 2.94, 6.498; cosmetae
6.477
Hiring, see Renting
Holiday 3.91; holiday resorts 12.80, 14.86
Homosexuality, see Effeminacy
Horti 1.12, 75, 6.488, 7.79, 10.16
Houses and shops (see also Rome): height
of 3.199, 269, 6.31; rich and poor live in
proximity 6.414, shops part of domus 3.303,
shop and workshop 13.45; peristyle, porticus,
garden 1.1213, 4.56, 6.163, 7.178, 14.66;

garrets, cenacula 3.199, 7.118, 10.18; cella

7.28; vestibulum 1.132, 7.126; cenatio 7.183;
careful positioning of rooms 7.183; baths
6.419, 7.178; smoke and chimneys 1.120,
8.8; shutters, doors, curtains 9.1045; not
burglar-proof 6.415; lodgings 3.166, 225,
234, 7.70, 9.63; vilicus of landlord 3.195,
4.77; praetorium 1.75, 10.161; pergula 6.O.29,
11.137; aedificatio see Luxury
Imagines, stemmata 8.19, 55
Immigrants 3 intr., 62
India 6.466, 11.94
Infamia 1.48
Infibulation 6.73, 379
Inheritance, see Captatio
Interpretatio Romana 8.110, 10.161, 177, 250,
14.320
Inns and Taverns 6.121, 8.158 sqq., 11.81
Insanity 2.71, 6.46, 10.233, 13.97, 125?, 14.136, 288
Italy: depopulation of country towns 6.56, 7.4,
10.100, of Cumae 3.4; Latium, towns of
3.190, 223, 14.87; Etruria 1.22, 6.289, 8.180,
11.108; Apulia 4.27, 6.150, 9.54; Campania
3.15, 4.140, 9.56, 11.49 (see Bay of Naples);
Lucania 8.180; Bruttium 9.14; Picenum 11.74;
Umbria 12.13; Altinum 8.15
Jewels 2.61, 5.38, 6.156, 381, 458, 7.144, 13.139;
monilia 2.85
Jews 3.13, 296, 6.159, 542, 8.160, 14.96 sqq.; see
p. 21
Kisses 4.118, 6.47
Lacus 6.603; cf. foricae 3.38
Lantern, lights, candles 3.2857, 9.98; as sign of
rejoicing 12.92; see Furniture
Laurel: of triumph 8.253; of Apollo 7.19; of
rejoicing 6.79, 10.65; of lustration 2.158
Law, lawyers, courts 1.128, 6.68, 7.106 sqq., 173,
13.1359, 14.1913, 16.10 sqq., 42 sqq.; iustitium 3.213; vacation 16.42; vadimonia 3.213,
298; cognitio 6.485, of tribunes 7.228; arbiter
8.79; procedure 7.146, 13.4; squalor 15.135;
evidence of slaves 6.O.29, 10.87; sponsio
6.O.27; jurisconsults, orators, causidici (q.v.)
pragmatici 7 intr., 106, 123, 8.47; wear toga
8.49, 16.45; women pleaders 2.51, 6.242
Libelli 6.244, 7.107, 14.193
Literature: patronage 7 intr. and 1104; antiquarian taste 6.454; leges of genres 6.635, 7.102;

SUBJECT-MATTER561
6.41; literary comparisons 6.436,
11.180; see also Poets
Litters and Sedan-chairs 1.323, 4.6?, 7.132, 142,
10.35; open and shut 1.65, 1204, 3.23942,
4.21; hexaphoros 1.64; cathedra and cushions
1.65, 1589, 6.353?; women 1.1204, 4.21,
6.309, 351, 353; sella 1.124, 6.353, 7.142; in
circus 6.352?, 9.143; hire of (1.1202), 6.353,
(9.143)
Love-potions 6.133, 610 sqq.; love communicated
through eyes, see Physiology
Ludi: scenic 6.68, 87, 8.185 sqq., 14.25662;
Floralia 6.250; opened with trumpets 6.250;
administered by praetors 6.380, 8.194, 10.36
sqq., 11.195, 14.257; see also Circus
Luxury (see also Food, Furniture (tables),
Amber):
Villas, aedificatio 1.94, 10.225, 14.86 sqq.,
1401, 275
Silver plate, argentum 1.76, (3.220), 6.355, 7.133,
9.31, 1412, 10.19, 11.41, 12.43, 14.62; engraved
9.145, 12.46
Marble (1.12), 3.19, 215, 257, 6.430, 7.182, 11.175,
14.89, 307
Jewelled cups 5.38, 10.26; see also Jewels
Tortoise-shell 6.80, 11.94, 14.308
Ivory 11.123, 14.308
Gold basins 6.430, cloth 6.482, hair-net 2.96,
beds 6.594, cups 5.39, 10.27
Imported from abroad, causing moral decline
6.292 sqq.; see Commerce

tertainments 5.157, 11.162 sqq.; garlands and

perfumes, see s.vv.; sawdust on floor 14.67;
time for beginning drinking 1.49; call for
larger cups 11.148; stress on sociability 1.136;
see also Food
Money, Money-lending, Interest, Accounts:
6.483, 7.110, 9.7, 140; bankruptcy 7.129, 11.39;
imputare 5.14, 6.179; rationes 1.118, 6.511;
constare 6.166; pawning 7.73, 11.18; see also
Deposit, Banking
Price of land 4.7, 27; of fish 4.15; of slaves, see
s.v.
Mourning 3.212, 8.267, 10.244, 13.127 sqq.;
squalor 15.135
Municipalities 3 intr., 171 sqq.; magistrates 3.178,
10.1002, cf. p. 4; cheapness of living in
3.2235; despised 3.34, 8.237; see also Italy
Music and Musicians 6.379 sqq.; Nero 8.198,
220 sqq.; dancing girls 11.162 sqq.; connected
with prostitution 3.635, 6.320; dancing,
see s.v.; infibulation of singers, see s.v.; agon
Capitolinus 6.387; teachers 7.176; citharodes,
choraulae, tibicines 6.767, 387, 8.198, 10.211;
foreign instruments 3.63 (harps); trumpets,
horns etc. 2.118, 10.44, 14.199; military 1.169,
14.199, 15.52; at ludi and gladiatorial shows
3.34, 6.250; tibia in cult of Bona Dea 2.90,
6.314, 337; see also Oriental Cults and Actors,
pantomimes
Mythology, characters deflated 1.10, 54, 6.153,
173, 12.73

Magistrates, Officials, Insignia:

Consul, in dating 13.17, 15.27, see also pp. 12;
third p. 169
Praetor 16.10; see Ludi
Censor 4.12, 9.142, 11.902, 14.50
Tribune 7.228, 11.7
Aedile 3.162; in municipalities 3.179, 10.102
Fasces, lictors 8.23, 136, 260, 10.35, 79; sella
curulis 10.91; tribunal 8.127, 194, 10.35; toga
praetexta 10.35; 99; toga picta and tunica
palmata 10.38; see also Clothing (trabea)
and Diadem
Magistrates elected by senate 10.77
Magic, see Religion
Marriage, see Women
Meals: cena 2.11920, 5 passim, 6.419; prandium
10.178, 13.46; recumbere, discumbere, sedere
2.120, 6.434 etc.; placing of guests 3.82,
5.17; courses 1.94; aperitif, vomiting 6.425;
refrigerated water 5.50; belching 3.107; en-

Names: tria nomina 5.127; order 6.266;

praenomen as gentile 6.385; praenomen
and cognomen interchanged 8.21, 40, 182,
192; derived from bodily deformity 9.1; in
itta 2.68; affectionate diminutive 6.105;
cognomina in icus 2.67, 3.212, 8.1, 13, 21, 26,
38, 15.1; usurped 4.32; ambiguity of reference
2.146, 8.105.
Servile 8.197; Greek declension in Celtic
7.214, 15.93; Greek nominative in os 15.2;
patronymic 2.65, 154; etymology suggested
2.50, 3.251, 8.187, 13.197; antiphrasis (3.203?),
8.32; significant 6.77, 383, 11.137; traditional
in professions 1.36, 6.63, 71, 77, 87, 10.221;
singular combined with generalising plural
1.109, 8.182, 11.91
Homeric and mythological as appellatives 1.61,
4.65, 133, 5.59, 6.655, 660, 7.115, 8.269, 10.84,
12.119, 127, 13.249, 16.26; 6.566, 10.318; other
singular names used as appellatives 6.345,

562 INDEX
14.41; plural appellatives 2.3, 35, 5.89, 149,
6.110 etc.; melior Lucusta 1.71; Quirini = Q.
and his brother 11.105; names in transferred
sense 6.29, 8.104, 12.128
Nature, feeling for 3.18
Negroes 2.23, 6.600, 8.33; 5.53, 11.125
Nobility; see pp. 223 and 8 passim
Extinction of 1.34, 2.145, 4.97, 1534, 6.265,
8.191; impoverished 1.107; receive sportula
1.100 sqq.; Trojan descent 1.100, 8.56, 181,
231, 11.95; invented genealogies 8.131; nobility
derived through mother 8.39; patrician
4.102, 7.192, 8.190, 10.332; as actors and
gladiators 2.143, 4.99, 8.184 sqq.
Numerical reckoning: duodecimal 1.40, cf. p. 46;
inclusive 7.160?; abacus 9.40; finger-counting 10.249; periphrases 4.16, 10.129
Nurses, see Children
Oaths and perjury 3.1446, 6.16, 13 passim,
14.219; by genius and Juno 2.98
Officium see p. 18
Oratory, see Africa and Gaul; orators of humble
origin 8.47; umbra contrasted with courts
7.173; battle-metaphor 6.449, 7.156, 173,
16.47; women 6.448; see also Index III,
Rhetoric
Oriental Cults: Bellona 4.123, 6.512; Cybele 2.111,
6.512, 9.23; Megalesia 6.69, 11.193 sqq.; Attis
6.544?; Isis, Osiris, Anubis 6.489, 522 sqq.,
8.29, 9.22, 12.28, 13.92; music and hymns
2.11314, 6.512, 8.176, 9.62; appeal of to
women 6.511, 9.23; Galli, castration 2.116,
6.514, 8.176; 6.519; fanaticus
2.112, 4.123
Parricide, culleus 8.214, 13.155
Parvenus, see p. 21
Pater patriae 8.243; pater of founder of city 2.126
Patria potestas 16.51 sqq.
Paupertas 6.295, 9.147
Peculium of sons in manu 16.51 sqq.
Peddlers 4.32, 7.221
Perfumes 2.41, 4.108, 6.297, 465, 8.86, 159, 9.128,
11.122, 15.50; saffron 14.2679
Pergula see Houses
Philosophers (see p. 13 and 2 passim) Dress of
3.115, 13.122; as domestic companions 3.116;
Js defective knowledge of, incongruous lists
2.6, 13.184, 15.106; practical experience preferred to philosophy 13.202, 120; Stoicism
2 intr. and passim, 5.36, 7.190 sqq., 9.32,

10.357 sqq. (cf. p. 396), 15.106, 143 sqq., and

Hercules 2.20, 10.361; Epicureanism 13.869,
225, 14.319; Cynicism 13.121, 14.308; Socrates
10 intr., 13.185, 14.320; see also Beard
Physiology: liver as seat of passions 1.45, 6.648,
7.117 (13.14, 181); lungs 4.138; heart 7.159,
14.35; brain 14.57, 15.23; bile 13.143; pulse
13.125?; urine = semen 1.39, (11.170); blood
and semen connected 1.42; blood in youth
and old age, see Age; cardiacus = suffering
from dyspepsia 5.32; eyes vehicle of love
4.114, 10.332; forehead as seat of shame 2.8,
8.189, 11.204, 13.242, 14.56; supercilium of
pride 6.169
Poets and Poetry 1.118, 7.197: vates 1.18, 6.436,
7.89; recitation 1.1 sqq., 3.9, 3212, 7.39 sqq.,
by Statius 7.82; writers of pantomime libretto 7.87; facundus and disertus pp. 2 and 28;
Bacchus and Apollo 7.19, 29, 60 sqq.; lectus
7.105; work early or late 1.51, 7.27, 99; busts
7.29; amateurs 7.38; and woods 7.58; see also
Actors, Literature
Poison 1.6972, 158, (3.44), 5.147, 6.133, 620, 629
sqq., 8.17, 219, 9.100, 10.25, 13.25, 154, 186,
14.2525
Pons 4.116; see also Beggars
Praeco see Auctions
Praefectus Urbi 4.76, 13.157
Praefectus praetorio, praetorian guards, castra
praetoria: 4.32, 111, 6.561, 10.94, 16.20 sqq.
Prison, Execution, Torture: prison 1.73, 3.314,
6.5601, 13.245; uncus 10.66, 13.245; tunica
molesta 1.155, 8.235; talio 1.155; crucifixion
8.187, 14.77; execution by sword 4.96, 8.195,
10.345; display of head 10.120; torture 6.624;
torture of slaves, see Slaves; nervus 6.O.13;
see also Parricide
Prostitution 6.116 sqq.; fornix 3.156, 10.239,
11.173; by tombs 6.O.16; by circus 3.65; prostitutes slaves 6.320, 11.173; male 1.47; leno
3.156, 6.127, 216; stare 10.239, 11.172; foreign
girls 3.65; blond 6.120, O.16; naked 3.135,
6.122, 11.172; at Floralia 6.250; see also Music
Provinces: extortion 1.4750, 8.89 sqq.; robbery
of works of art from 3.218, 8.100 sqq.; cohors
of governors 3.47, 8.127; price of land in 4.26
Pupilli and tutores 1.47, 6.629, 8.79, 10.222,
11.156, 15.135
Purple and scarlet 1.27, 3.81, 283, 4.31, 6.246,
7.134, 8.101, 10.38, 12.38, 14.187
Purses, Money-chests etc., see Clothing and
Furniture

SUBJECT-MATTER563

Religion and Superstition: 6.511 sqq.; see also

Oriental Cults
Prayer and Ritual: formulae, technical terms
and forms of speech 2.89, 8.155, 13.115, 232,
14.45, 15.140; prayers muttered 6.539, 10.289;
favere linguis 12.83; praeire carmen 6.391;
velare caput ibid.; archaic language 8.155;
signs of respect when passing temples 1.116,
6.306; vows 10.55, 12.2, 100; votive pictures
12.27; commercial attitude to gods 13.113;
confession 6.521, 535; Janus and Vesta in
prayers 6.386; poppysma 6.584; kissing
ground at temples 6.47; dexter pes 10.5;
taboo on women in cult of Silvanus 6.447;
instaurare 8.158; ritual chastity 6.535; three as
ritual number 6.523; noise apotropaic 6.441;
bells, ibid.; feriae Latinae 8.155; avoidance of
nemesis 7.112, 10.41, 12.89; purification by
water and sulphur 2.157, 6.522 sqq., by eggs
6.518; Saturnalia 6.153 sqq., 7.97
Offerings: victims 2.86, 6.392, 447, 540, 8.155,
10.268, 354, 12.3 sqq., 95 sqq., 13.117, 233;
private victims at Capitol 6.48, 10.65, 12.6;
libum 3.187, 6.541, 16.39; puls 16.39; far 9.138,
sprinkled with wine on victims 6.386, 12.8,
84; wine 2.87; vittae 12.118; blood on altar
13.37; stips 10.116; garlands, see s.v.; incense
9.137, 12.90, 13.116; human sacrifice 6.552;
dedications 13.148; hair 12.81; devotio 8.254
Deities: epiphany 6.2, 15.10; god and statue
identified 13.115; syncretism 6.532, 544; power attribute of gods 5.132; god praesens 3.18,
(11.111); name used in metonymy 7.25; Jupiter = weather 5.79; genius 4.66, 6.22; Pecunia
and other abstractions 1.113; cult attached to
particular family 3.320; Quirinus-Romulus
2.126; Castor and Pollux 14.260; Capitoline
triad 12.3 sqq.; Juno = genius of women
2.98, pronuba 6.48, Regina 12.3; Ceres 3.320,
6.50, 9.24; Bona Dea 2.86, 6.314 sqq., 9.117;
Terminus 16.389; Silvanus 6.447; Vesta
4.61, 6.386; Cabiri 3.144; Lares 8.110, 9.137,
12.87, 13.233
Omens and Divination: portents and omens
2.123, 6.538, 587 (fulgura), 13.62 sqq.; comet
6.407; divination by birds, dogs, frogs etc.
3.44, 6.549 sqq.; haruspices 2.121, 6.3927,
548, 587, 13.62; foreign diviners 6.550, 585;
fortune-tellers 6.582 sqq.; sortes 1.82, 6.583;
dreams and incubation 6.526 sqq., 547;
procuratio by pontifex maximus 4.46; dexter

pes 10.5
Temples and Equipment: temple as house of
god 4.40; aedicula 8.111; delubra = shrines
12.84; temple-robbery 13.150, 14.261;
terra-cotta statues 11.116; altars 12.2, 85;
cult-vessels, conservatism in materials 2.116,
6.343, 441, 514; garlands see s.v.; torches 2.91,
15.140; vittae of Ceres 6.50
Priests etc.: pontifices 4.46, 6.604; Salii 2.117
sqq., 6.604, 8.207; Luperci 2.142; Vestals 4.9;
fanatici, see Oriental Cults; aretalogi 15.16
Miscellaneous: Eleusinian mysteries, torches
15.140; substitution and scape-goat 6.520;
oracles 6.554 (see Omens, sortes); oaths, see
s.v.; table sacred 2.110, 6.O.4; after-life 2.149
sqq., 3.264 sqq., 7.207, 10.288; evil eye 10.53
and see Amulet; invidia against gods 15.123;
magic 3.77, 6.133, 610; demons thought to
cause eclipse 6.441; profanation of statues
6.310
Renting and Hiring: of commercial buildings
7.4; of ring 7.143; of clothes and attendants
6.352; of seating 7.46; see also Housing,
Litters
Respect, signs of 3.131, 13.55
Rings: 1.289, 6.381, 7.1404, 11.129; equestrian,
see Equites; sealing 1.67, 13.138
Rome (Urbs 2.167, 3.61 and passim): streets
3.236; pavement 3.272, 6.350; traffic 3.10, 236;
lighting 3.285, 7.225; floods 3.32; freezing of
Tiber 6.522; mud 3.247, 7.131; insulae 3.7, 193
sqq., 269, 6.31 (see also Houses); building-regulations 3.7, 199; fires and collapse
of buildings 3.7, 190 sqq., 14.305; refuse
disposal 3.269; population 11.196; expense of
3.225; porticos and theatres 6.60; location of
industry 14.202; macella, see food; high-class
and low-class areas, see Index I, Aventinus,
Esquiliae, Subura, Viminalis
Salutatio, see Clients
Saturnalia, see Religion, prayer
Sailors, ships, boats: 12.1782; sailors, rough
6.154, 8.174, (10.20); mare clausum 6.153; cargo jettisoned 12.33; arbor = mast 12.32; mast
lowered 12.54; artemo 12.68; aplustre 10.135;
magister 12.79; contum 10.20; cumba 2.151,
4.45, 12.80; stlatta 7.134; reed gandeia, canna
5.89; Egyptian ferry 15.127
Scurrae, parasites 1.139, 4.31, 5.3, 145, 171, 8.190,
13.111, 14.46
Sealing, witnessing 2.119, 3.81, 9.76, 10.336; see

564 INDEX
Forgery, Rings
Senate: procedure 6.497; census 6.137; clavus
on dress 1.106; tries extortion 8.193; elects
magistrates 10.77; shoe 7.192; sits on podium
in amphitheatre 2.147, in orchestra in theatre
3.178, 7.47
Sensus communis 8.73, 7.218, 15.133
Sex: harms voice 6.73; oral 6.4951, 301, O.5,
10.223, 238; cunnilingus 9.4; Lesbianism
2.479, 6.311; bestiality 6.334; postures 6.406;
equestrian metaphors 6.311; semen, see
Physiology; bisexuality 9 passim; see also
Effeminacy
Shade 7.8, 105, 173
Ships, see Sailors
Shops, see Houses
Slaves: number of 9.64, 142, none 3.286; work
on own account 9.145; owned by poor 3.167;
specialisation, see Trades; contubernalis
6.2667; peculium 3.189; rations 14.126;
clothing 1.93, 9.68, 11.1469; ergastula 6.151,
8.180, 11.80, 14.24; punishment, branding,
execution 2.57, 5.172, 6.O.29, 219, 476 sqq.,
8.175, 9.111, 10.109, 183, 14.214; callousness
towards 11.152; humanity towards 6.222,
14.16; runaway 4.50, 8.174; public 10.41;
adultery with mistresses 6.279, 331; female
as owners mistresses 2.57; of rich courted
3.131; become equites 7.16; sent to country as
punishment 8.180, 11.80; pueri 6.272, 12.117
and passim; pueri capillati see Beard; gossip
9.103; castrated 6.369; vilicus 4.77
Vernae 9.10 (cheeky), 60, 11.143 sqq., 14.169;
mango 6.373a, 11.147; named after place of
origin 4.121; price of 4.25; auction of 1.111,
7.16; no patria 8.45; causa liberalis 7.115; see
also Law
Sponsio 6.25, 57, O.27, 11.201
Sportula 3.249; see also Clients
Statius 4 intr., 7.83
Statues, busts, honorific inscriptions: 2.4, 5.110,
7.29, 226, 8.69, 22730, 10.57 sqq., 143, 13.119;
gilded 13.150; in garden and peristyle 1.12,
6.162, 7.79; triumphal 1.12931, 7.124, 8.143;
of wax 7.238, 12.88?
Stemmata, see Imagines
Step-mother 6.134, 403, 627
Sulphur 2.158, 5.48, 13.145
Tacitus 2.102, 159, 7 intr. and 39 sqq., p. 397
Textiles, see Clothing
Theatre, see Actors

Time-reckoning 10.216, 14.190; cf. pp. 19 and 46

Toilet, make-up, cosmetics, 2.93 sqq., 107,
6.O.21, 462 sqq.; 11.157; wig 6.120; see also
Depilation, Hair; buxus = comb 14.194
Torture, see Prison
Trades and occupations: 3 intr.; specialisation
6.591, 9.109; undertakers, see Burial; painters, see Art; lanista, see Gladiators; leno, see
Prostitution; praeco, see Auctions; contractors 3.31; portitores 1.130, 3.31; merchants, see
Commerce; Peddlers, see s.v.
Transport and Travel, see Wagons
Tutor, see Pupilli
Tyrants 4.145 (cf. p. 169), 7.151, 10.307
Upstarts, see Parvenus
Urbanitas 9.1011
Valerius Maximus pp. 394, 397, 15.93, 106
Vessels and dishes: fictilia 3.168, 10.25, 11.19; in
cult 6.343; Tuscus catinus 11.108; glass 2.95
(obscene shapes), 5.468; crystal and murra
6.155, 7.133; of rhinoceros horn 7.130
alveolus 5.88, 7.73; bascauda 12.46; calix 5.47,
6.O.14, 11.145; cantharus 3.205; concha 6.304
(419); cyathus 5.32, 9.47, 13.44; dolium 6.431,
614a, 9.58, 14.308; gutus 3.263, 11.158; lagoena
5.29, 7.121, 8.162, 12.60, 14.271; oenophorus
6.426, 7.11; paropsis 3.142; patella 5.85, 6.344;
pelvis 3.277, 6.431, 10.64; phiale 5.39, (10.27);
sartago 10.64; tripes 7.11; trulla 3.108; urceolus 3.203, 10.64; urna 6.426, 12.44, 15.25 etc.
Vigiles 14.305
Wagons and wheeled vehicles, riding, travel:
travel at night 5.54, 10.19; prohibition of
wheeled vehicles in Rome during the day
3.10, 236; self-driving and horse-mania 1.59
sqq., 8.146 sqq.; riding 4.56, 7.178; mules
(iumenta) 3.3167, 4.5, 7.180, 8.148; muliones
despised 8.1468; Gallic influence 8.66, 157;
brake 8.148, 16.50; virga of driver 3.317, 8.153;
epiraedia 8.66; carpentum 8.147; raeda 3.10,
236; plaustrum 3.256; serracum 3.254, 5.23
Wills, see Captatio
Wine and viticulture: local varieties 1.69, 5.33,
6.O.15, 7.121, 9.56, 10.27, 11.159, 13.21216, see
also Index I, Falernus; acetum 3.292, 5.24,
10.153, 13.85; mixed with water 5.613, with
perfume 6.303; flavoured with pitch 9.58;
strained 13.44; grapes pressed by feet 5.31;
smoked to mature 5.35; matured in dolia,

STYLE, GRAMMAR, LATINITY, METRE565

see Vessels; mustum 9.58; diffundo 5.30,
11.159; age, label 5.305; passum 14.270; vines
trained on elms, arbusta 6.150, 8.78, 14.144;
toasting 5.127; cyathi see Vessels; aperitif,
vomiting 6.4259; wine stimulates appetite
4.138; drunken women 6.302, 315, 9.116,
12.45; pytisma 11.175
Women, marriage, adultery 6 passim; wedding 2.117 sqq., 10.334 sqq.; adultery 1.55,
778, 2.68 sqq. (adulteresses wear toga),
4.4, 6.O.20 sqq., 10.311 sqq., 14.25 sqq.; wedding-contract and betrothal 2.119, 6.25, 200,
9.75, 10.336; dowry 2.117, (6.137), 10.335; early
betrothal 3.110; minimum age for marriage
14.29; ring 6.27; auspex 2.119, 10.336; wedding early in morning 2.133; wedding-feast
2.119, 6.202; garlanding of houses 6.51, 79,
227; flammeum 2.124, 6.225, 10.334; crossing
of threshold 14.220; lectus genialis 6.22,
10.334; Morgengabe 6.203

domina 6.30, 9.78; puella 2.59, 6.258, O.32,

9.74; presents at Matronalia 9.50; divorce
6.146, 591; repeated marriages 6.224 sqq.;
ingenuus marries freedwoman 5.141; marriage laws and limitations on inheritance
1.55, 2.30, 59, 6.38, 9.87; divorce because of
sterility 2.138; univirae 6.54, 230; adultery
with slaves, see Slaves; custodes 6.235, O.31;
assignations in temples 6.489, 9.22; penalties
of adulterers 10.315; incest 2.29
Procreation and sterility 2.138; abortion and
contraception 2.32, 6.368, 595; supposition
and exposure of infants 6.602
Wool-working 6.289; seating in theatre and
circus 6.61, 11.202; charge at baths 6.447;
religious taboo 6.447; as athletes and
gladiators 1.22, 2.53, 6.246 sqq.; blue-stocking 6.434; and rhetoric 6.244; see also Law,
Oriental Cults, Wine
Writing Materials, see Books

III. STYLE, GRAMMAR, LATINITY, METRE

[When n. is added to a line reference, it indicates that additional places are cited at that place.]
A (exclamation) 9.102, 14.45
Abuse, terms of 4.84, 6.276
Adeo 3.274, 6.50, 11.131, 12.36, 13.59, 183, 14.234
Adficio, adfectus 6.214, 8.161, 12.10, 14.24, 15.150
Adhuc 6.502, 8.36
Adjectives: of time, functioning as adverbs 1.28,
3.12, 4.108, 6.118, 523, 11.84, 12.92, 14.131;
rarus 8.63, 10.18; others as adverbs 1.25
With ellipse of noun 2.32, 5.30, 50, 63, 86,
6.368, 480, 492, 497, 10.91, 11.148, 12.46
Adverbial neuter 6.485, 14.295
In active sense 1.70, 6.298, 300, 382, 631, 7.206,
13.27, 187, 229, 14.197, 304 (many of these
could also be interpreted as transferred
epithet)
In passive sense: surdus 7.71, 13.194
As nouns: noster perfidus 13.2445; with dependent genitive 2.111; with other adjectives
aeger 3.232, 9.16, 13.124, 234 (cf. 12.122),
obscenus 2.9, 6.513, avarus 7.30, 9.38, 14.178;
neuters 10.107, 11.1920, 12.55
And genitive 8.103
Formed without suffix from proper names
2.106, 6.544, 14.278
Diminutive 6.425

Compound 8.67, 11.181; avoided 9.65

Ornamental 1.22, 8.15, 12.4
Predicative 1.88, 4.58
Proleptic 1.83, 5.27, 6.144, 160, 232, 514, 8.118,
120, 12.62
Comparative = more than others 6.581; = too
(big etc.) for 3.203, 4.14, 66, 13.12, 14.165,
15.140; ablative in i 7.77, 13.48; with multum
10.197, 12.66
Enallage and transferred epithet 1.57, 6.511,
658, 7.23, 8.86, 90, 9.14, 10.(31), 116, 12.82,
14.10, 260, 267, 15.43, 16.19; see also Adjectives in active sense
In place of apposition 6.489
In bilis 15.143, 16.21
Ad sensum construction 6.180, 647, 14.241; see
also Gender
Adverbs used as adjective 3.34; egregius 11.12
Adynaton 6.41
Agere: hoc agere 5.157, 7.20, 48
Ait, see Verbs, action not performed directly by
subject
Alliteration passim; with cachinnus 3.100, 10.31;
in paired words 6.360, 8.174, 10.160

566 INDEX
Anacoluthon 12.102, 14.52
Antiquus and vetus: combined 6.21, 15.33; antiquus 1.138, 15.109; vetus 1.132, 3.1, 5.13, 7.170,
9.16, 14.184; veteres 14.189
Apposition 1.141, 2.99, 3.48, 7.121, 12.106; see also
et, Nouns used adjectivally
Archaisms (8.68), 11.38, 15.25; rursus = backwards 10.150, 12.76; see also pp. 356
Argumentation, forms of, see p. 30
Article, indefinite 6.345, 12.98; definite 6.177,
338, 13.216, 15.7
Assonance 10.122
Asyndeton: bimembre 3.106, 6.604, 9.2831,
13.1323, 145, 164
At end of list 6.O.20, 8.27, 13.83, 15.99; in middle of list 2.150, 10.1758?, 12.46, 15.135
Of clauses 1.167, 3.90, 21516, 5.41, 6.206, 253,
8.66, 9.45, 10.57, 14.121
Adversative 3.12, 1212, 6.587 and passim
Attonitus 4.77, 146, 7.67, 8.239, 12.21, 13.194,
14.306
Attraction to gender of predicate 11.52, 12.70,
13.157, 15.133; cf. 6.471, 10.233
Beatus 1.39, 6.204, 14.120
Brachylogy, see Concentration and Ellipse
Cacophony 6.O.3
Cerdo 4.153, 8.182
Chiasmus, see Ring-composition
Civis 2.105, 4.90, 5.112
Coepi 6.434
Comparison expressed as allegory, not simile
8.130, 9.5, 126, 14.246; comparatio compendiaria 3.74, 901, 4.71, 6.(176), O.7, 486, (7.72),
9.6, 15.68?
Concentration of Expression and brachylogy
(see also Ellipse) 1.99, 131, 3.277, 5.42, 6.143,
382, 579, 10.150, 365, 11.192, 12.117, 14.326,
15.168
Conjunctions (see also et): ac and atque
connecting dissimilars 1.65, 10.197, 299,
13.145 (cf. et); summarising 3.8 (cf. et); atque
strengthening and correcting 14.205, 310;
at 4.120; ast 15.165; aut = or else 13.115, with
third item of enumeration 2.52 (cf. et); igitur
first word 16.18, resuming after digression
6.92; nec and neque 8.98, 15.107, = not even
11.7, 136, 13.97, 16.18 and passim, = nec
tamen 2.130, 3.102, 10.120, 13.114, 15.65, nec
nec non 13.1212; que epexegetic (cf. et)
3.11, 55, 10.177, 12.85, (15.1345), continuing

negative 13.185, 15.125 (cf. et), = or 10.170n.,

que que 5.49n.; sed 6.279, 7.32, = 6.88,
8.158, = and indeed 4.27, 5.147, 14.117, introducing parenthesis 3.232, 14.117, resuming
after parenthesis or digression 10.185, 318,
12.79, 15.38, 51?, 87; tamen 2.115, 6.359, 640,
8.272
dum in causal sense 1.60, 5.94, 6.176, 429, 14.92
si = even if 6.470, (7.194); si ve 3.297
Constituo 3.12, 6.487
Crimen = crime 1.75n., 167?, 13.6; with facinus
6.294, 493
Cuncti, see omnis
Dare = put, make 10.164; = administer (medical)
1.158, 13.187; se dare with adjective 14.51, cf.
6.614c
Deliciae 6.47, 260, 10.291, 13.140
Dies, gender 13.23
Dimidius 8.4, 13.95, 15.5, 57
Diminutives: 10.3545 and passim, cf. p. 35, see
also Adjectives; double 10.173; with adjective
meaning large 10.82, small 5.85; caressing
6.105, 109, 241, 276, 390
Direct speech, form of retained in narrative
6.98, 152, 214, 15.47; abruptly introduced
3.187n.
Diversus 3.268, 4.148, 7.156, 10.3, 13.136
Dominus and a 4.96, 5.137, 6.30, 8.161, 9.78
Domus = household, property 3.10, 261, 11.191,
14.259
Ellipse: see pp. 323 and Adjectives, Nouns,
accusative, Purpose Clauses, Verbs, action
not performed directly by subject
Of positive after negative 3.1212, 6.18, 13.36,
14.2334, 16.9
Of antecedent pronoun before relative 6.413,
10.330
Before nam 6.445, 10.204, cf. 3.208
Of verb of saying 2.2, 65, 4.11, 5.107, 6.644,
10.256, 11.45, 13.92, (181), 15.24
Of esse 3.21213, 8.30, 38, 1034, 14.46 etc.
Of verb of cost 3.166, 7.178
Of idea of willingness in consecutive clauses
3.56, 8.196, 10.98
Of only (10.19), 11.478, 84, 110, 14.233, 16.24
Of other 3.8, 10.13, 174, (212), 13.83, 15.99; see
also omnis
Of accusative relative after nominative 6.152
Of verb of motion 14.148, of doing 2.15, 3.38, of
giving 7.207, 14.189; of deinde after primum

STYLE, GRAMMAR, LATINITY, METRE567

2.4 sqq., 5.12 sqq.; of comparative notion
2.122, 6.O.23
En see Nouns, accusative
Epexegesis 6.29; see et and Conjunctions, que
Ephebus 2.164, 10.306
Et: epexegetic 1.76, 3.48, 5.121, 9.57, 11.49; in
indignant question 1.87, 6.342; = and yet
1.93, 7.124, 13.91; summarising 10.174 (cf.
Conjunctions, ac); continuing negative 13.44
(cf. Conjunctions, que); in paratactic conditions 16.31; with last item of enumeration
3.167, 6.354, 9.74, 14.8; and ac differentiated
6.18; in anaphora 6.296
Connecting dissimilars (cf. Conjunctions, ac):
adjective and gen. or abl. quality (10.197),
11.96n.; adj. and rel. clause 8.262n., 14.228
9n.; adj. and apposition 12.65, 74; other 1.34,
2.98, 9.74, 14.219
Etymology 14.269; see Index II, Names
Euphemism 3.97, 10.3; morbus 2.17, 9.49; pecten,
crista 6.370, 422; aliquid 10.207; cf. p. 35
Facere in arithmetical sense 6.229; = sacrifice
9.117; = be guilty 4.12, 6.173, 638, 14.185
Figures of Speech; see also Adjectives, enallage,
Asyndeton, Ellipse, Word-order (hyperbaton) and cf. pp. 323
Anaphora with et 6.296
Zeugma and syllepsis 1.72, 6.O.18, 8.249, 15.81
Gradatio 6.329 sqq.
Figures of Thought (cf. p. 33) dubitatio 9.81;
hysteron proteron 6.62, 15.145; praeteritio
3.114, 6.133, p. 34; 6.172, O.27,
9.63 (cf. Direct speech); oxymoron 1.57, 140,
3.61, 182, 4.102, (116), 5.59, 6.118, 278, 622,
8.107, 148, 187, 198, 11.3, 14.120, 15.21; paradox
1.82, 8.94 etc.
Fossilised phrases 1.956, 7.23
Gender: epicenes 6.O.6; ad sensum 12.74; in
case of multiple reference 2.44; see also
Attraction
Gluttio 4.28, 5.104
Graius and Graecus 10.138, 11.100, 15.110
Greek words: use of at Rome 3.63, 6.185 sqq.;
quoted 9.37; filling gaps in Latin vocabulary
6.278, 428, 11.127; syntactical Grecism 6.582;
cf. p. 35
Gula 14.10n.
Habeo with adjective or participle 10.296, 13.194;
tibi habe 3.188, 5.118

Haud 7.93
Hendiadys 3.211, 285, 5.34, 77, 6.(29), 84, 8.251,
10.284, 11.123, 12.60, 13.167, 14.9
Hinc = ex his 15.77
Homo and vir 2.167, 6.284, 10.304
Humour at expense of people and objects approved, see p. 24, 14.45 and passim
Iacio, scansion of compounds 15.17
Illogical and loose expression 3.12, 6.176, 10.233,
(239), 298304, 12.75; inconsequence 3.257,
6.1416, 8.19, 10.201
Immo 13.107
Inquit see Verbs, action not performed directly
by subject
Interlocutor, see pp. 31, 66
Invidiam facere 15.123
Ire: it 1.145; 3rd person singular perfect in
compounds, it 10.11, it before consonants
6.563, 8.85, t before vowels 3.174n.
Iuvenis, iuventus 2.155, 8.51; = filius 10.310n.,
6.330?
Kenning 8.155, 13.232, 15.11
Libellus, see Index II
Libertas free speech 2.77, 14.56
Licet with secondary sequence 13.56
Longe for a long time 6.561, 7.41
Magnus amicus 1.33n., 5.134
Medius half 3.219, 12.30
Metre: Avoidance of words of awkward metrical
shape; oblique cases of filius, see iuvenis and
cf. 6.241; of adulter 9.25; of Romulus 10.73,
14.160; of maximus 4.46, 8.13; of alter, see
Pronouns; of interest 5.123, 6.657; of Viminalis and Esquilinus 3.17, 5.77; Tharsimachus
7.204; induperator 4.29; patronymics 2.65,
154; diminutives, see p. 35; poetic plural, see
Nouns; and passim
Metrical convenience influences choice of
vocabulary 6.150, and of poetic plural 7.29
Elision of iamb 5.173, 6.327
Syncope (striglibus) 3.261; c: 3.49, 7.211
Vigiland 3.232, occasi in fourth foot 13.183,
erg 3.281
Recurrence of similar rhythm 6.237n., 10.1538
Rhyme 7.1956, 10.35961
Six-syllable ending 7.218; in-ter? 10.358
Mittere export 5.92, 119, 6.466; of presents
3.45n.

568 INDEX
Modo see nuper
Multum and multo, see Adjectives, comparative
Municeps 4.33
Nec saltem 9.147
Nempe 10.326, cf. p. 32
Neologism 2.65, 8.190
Non in prohibition 3.54n.; with dummodo etc.
7.222, 225
Noster our friend 13.244, favourable 9.137,
12.89
Nouns: Cases: Nominative, of 3rd declension
in -s 2.111, 11.3, in enumeration 3.76, and
Vocative 4.24, 6.277
Accusative, with adjectives 6.491, 8.4, with
passive verbs 8.16, 15.6 (cf. 2.97), internal
6.425, 636, 11.162, 12.128, 14.53, after simulo
etc. without se 2.3, 6.O.12, 614c; ellipse with
unde and quo 14.56n., with en 2.72n.
Genitive, objective 4.74, of material 13.70,
inhaerentiae 5.9, of quality 3.4, 48, 15.76,
after utrimque 6.582, after similis and par
5.114, 10.192
Dative of reference of inanimate thing 5.42
Ablative, of time at which (festivals) 2.148,
8.194, of duration 6.183, 9.16, 11.72 etc., of
comparison see Adjectives, comparative; of
agent 1.13n., cf. 6.O.18, 7.64, 10.70, ab with
instrument 10.270, instrumental of vessels
2.95n., 3.141, 168, of manner 10.4, of accompanying circumstances 8.58, 9.150, 13.1, 15.5,
of quality 6.263, (10.197), 11.96, of respect
6.491n., 15.6
Number: Plural in apposition to singular 1.141;
collective singular 3.142, 201, 248, 293, 306-7,
4.26, 6.150, 7.46, 132, 9.150, 10.155, 362, 12.38,
13.57, 14.144, 307, 15.76; poetic plural 3.255,
4.92, 5.82, 6.24, 138, 7.29, 10.36, 14.91, 16.45
etc.; artes works of art 11.100, soles 4.43
Quirini = Romulus and Remus etc. 11.105,
13.52; plural in reference to one 4.11, 5.2,
9.73, 118
Abstract for concrete 1.110, 2.34, 120, 4.71, 5.82,
6.203, 10.45, 100, 11.45, 194, 13.33; abstract
avoided 8.218, 9.85, 13.29, with the ab urbe
condita construction 1.163, 6.8, 10.110, 12.127,
13.24, 206, cf. 6.28891, 8.72; senectus principis = senex princeps etc. 1.10, 4.6, 39n., 72,
81n., 5.11, 153, 6.326, 10.75, 12.32, 60, 13.184,
214, 233
Used adjectivally (some of these might be
classified as apposition) 3.110, 4.100, 7.107,

8.149, 262, 10.144, 238, 14.247, 15.22, 23, with

tor and trix nouns 4.62n., 6.O.11?
Shift of meaning 3.2613, 12.69, 14.82; whole
for part, axis 6.470, 8.116, 14.42, orbis 2.108,
annus 16.42; 4.64, 9.34
See also Article, Attraction, Tropes
Numerals 1.64, 4.92
Nuper and modo 2.160 and intr. fin., 8.120, 125,
9.124
Omnis = any 3.38, 6.163, 8.209, 10.232, 303,
14.68; omnis and cuncti = all other 2.164,
10.13, 11.25
Opicus 3.207, 6.455
Paganus 16.33
Parataxis: With demonstratives 6.440n.
With first element subordinate in train of
thought 1.1079, 3.239 sqq., 6.582 sqq., 11.25,
13.199 sqq., 14.649
In conditions 6.329n.; with jussive or imperative 1.155, 3.78, 137, 5.7, 72, 112, 7.175, 9.134,
13.215; with et 16.2931
Pars good part, half 11.71
Patricius 1.24, 4.102, 10.332
Patrimonium 7.113, 12.50, 14.116
Paupertas 6.295, 9.147
Pereo as passive of perdo 4.56n.; perditus 5.130,
14.269
Periphrasis, see p. 34; 3.71, 91, 4.45, 56, 6.8,
159 and passim; on numbers, see Index II,
Numerical reckoning
Pleonasm, see p. 37; in vocabulary 2.34, 6.148,
237, 8.145, 13.214, 14.31; in thought 1.1479,
7.535, 9.79, 10.177
Same object referred to twice under different
names 3.23, 15.19; person 8.120n.
Ponere serve 11.108, 14.83
Praetorium, see Index II, Houses
Prepositions: ab next to 10.126, 247, see also
Nouns, ablative; ad = apud 14.260?; ante and
post in pregnant sense 1.169, 10.339, 14.183,
15.99; de 5.25, 7.197, partitive 1.66n., 3.259,
6.45; in = wearing 11.31, = carrying 11.106, of
vessels 11.148; ob 12.15; sub 3.205, 7.59, 15.26;
super 15.28; usque 10.1; utrimque 6.582
Priamel, p. 393
Pronouns: emphatic not expressed 3.41, 14.223
ego indefinite 3.289
tu = anybody (1.142), 2.61, 153, 3.134, 200,
289 sqq., 6.312, 8.38, 269, 9.33, 50, 112, 11.32,
14.48, 16.8

STYLE, GRAMMAR, LATINITY, METRE569

vos = you and your associates 5.28, 166, 6.395,
7.65, 8.126, 9.48, 13.119, 14.220
is 7.41
iste 3.29, 4.67, 6.295, 14.179
hic as antecedent to relative 7.41, 14.44; resumes subject after digression 7.56, replaces
second relative pronoun 11.25, = another
6.73, 13.91; = iste 14.58
ille the person in question 3.274, 10.179n.; =
se 13.203
ille ille, hic hic 10.91; hic and ille vary in
anaphora 8.223, in series 3.69, 10.227
idem 3.205; sdem 14.30
ipse 5.31, 6.519, 7.239, 10.7, 11.166
Relative: not referring to nearest noun 15.136;
antecedent attracted into rel. clause 3.91,
11.85; nominative understood from oblique
case (1.157), 15.170; loose reference 5.44, 153;
ignored as sentence develops 6.249; see also
Ellipse
quis and qui 7.63, 11.33; quis indefinite 15.115
alius = alter, quis = uter etc. 1.41, 4.138, 6.437,
7.114, 8.196, 10.150, 338, 344
Demonstrative, see Parataxis and adeo
Neuter referring to persons 3.74, 6.62, 284,
460, 10.278
Puella see Index II, Women
Puer see Index II, Slaves
Purpose clauses: ironical 5.120, 7.29, 117, 10.106,
167; blurred with consecutive 16.8; purpose
of writer, not of doer 6.87, 197, 12.93, 15.89
Quotation 9.37, 102, 10.122, 14.207
Quippe (4.79), 12.7
Refert 5.124; see also Metre
Repetition: of single words 16.910n.; of phrases
8.1312 and 1367; of words in different sense
10.298304; of phrases in different sense
1.42, 12.1314; of lines 1.25 = 10.225, 10.365
= 14.315, 13.137 = 16.41 (cf. intr.); of words
at successive line-ends 5.1478, 7.1434,
(14.229); of compounds without prefix 1.55,
14.326
Rex 8.161, cf. Index II, Clients
Rhetoric 1.1516, 6 intr. init., 245, 449, 7.150 sqq.;
topoi 1.55, 77, 8.56, 163, 215, 10.1678, 15 intr.,
86 (see Index II, Step-mother and Tyrant);
occupatio 7.156, 8.163; infames materiae 4.57;
color 6.280, 7.155; and poetry 1.15 sqq. (cf.
p. 28), 7.31; becomes irrelevant to context
10.271; cf. also pp. 28 sqq. and Index II,

Oratory
Ring-composition 1.87146 (see pp. 634),
2.935 (see p. 99), 4.73 (q.v.)144, 6.85112,
24767, 5 intr. (pp. 1978), 10.14387, 12
intr., 14.337 (monstrare)
Chiasmus 1.119, 135, p. 127, 3.166, 21011, p. 167,
5.98, 157, 6.103, 21213, 287, 349, 373a, 7.74,
135, 199201, 9.11415, 10.352, p. 431, 11.613,
12.111, 14 intr., 44, 8790
Semel 5.142, 6.521
Short words ejected by long ones 1.145, 2.131,
9.16, 11.152
Tamquam 3.47, 222, 4.79, 9.97, 14.111
Tanti 3.54, 6.178, 10.97
Totus 6.61, 8.255, 10.323
Traduco see Index II, Army
Tropes: see also Euphemism
Metaphor, faded and mixed 6.363, (7.50),
10.128, 13.8, 14.27
Litotes 15.15
Hyperbole 14.49, cf. p. 33
Antonomasia 7.25; cf. Periphrasis
Metonymy and Synecdoche 3.198201, 7.25,
8.104, 10.132, 12.4, 63, 128; building or place
for owner or inhabitant 3.16, 261, 5.95, 15.75,
vice versa (including god for temple) 1.116,
3.194, 9.24, 10.16, 14.260; and passim
Tunc 6.235, 9.118
Ut concessive (7.139), 10.240, 15.117; after talis
13.47
Variation: (see also Pleonasm):
Of construction after indignari 5.64; of mood
15.169; of tense 2.85, 120, 14.227; of gnomic
perfect and present 3.160, 6.361, 10.7, 14.174
Of number: with imperative 9.105: with nouns
and pronouns 1.138, 2.18, 167, 3.298, 308,
5.114, 6.95, 110, 244, 365, O.17, 464, 7.1356,
10.200, 11.177, 13.223, 14.116, (231), 15.65; in
lists 3.311, 9.109, 10.64, 21012, 11.139, 15.167;
with generic plural in names 1.109, 8.35,
10.108, 11.90
Venio 7.29
Verb:
Tense: Present, historic 10.17, referring to
future 6.57, with iamdiu etc. 1.85, 9.17, 10.77;
imperfect, of neglected duty 2.115, conative
8.261; future, as polite imperative 8.37, 9.101,
meaning will be found to, is likely to, in

570 INDEX
gnomic sense 1.126, 2.47, 3.98, 238, 239 sqq.,
6.620, 8.182, 9.6, 45, 13.184, represented by
velle 10.282; perfect, instantaneous 3.124,
(11.49), gnomic 2.83, 3.190, 13.105, 241 (see
also Variation); pluperfect of neglected duty
3.163, in sense of perfect 1.111, 5.76, 6.281,
7.152, 9.96, 10.272, 15.16
Mood: Imperative replaced by question
15.16, in -to 8.134, 9.105; infinitive after dare
(6.158), 14.30, perfect after velle 14.185, aoristic perfect 3.163, 6.456; indicative in deliberative sense 3.296, 4.28, 130, 6.O.29, 7.165,
deliberative subjunctive and future (perfect)
indic. 1.34, 158; indicative and subjunctive
after quamquam and forsitan 1.150, 15.30;
indicative after causal relative 10.248, 15.133;
subjunctive after priusquam 13.39; potential
perfect subjunctive 1.105, 2.24, 6.651, 7.140,
8.30, 75, 10.321, 15.21, jussive 3.78; imperfect
subjunctive in past unreal sense 4.85n.; 2nd
person subjunctive jussive and prohibitive
1.14, 3.276, 302, 4.22, 7.9, 8.188
Gerundive 3.56, 4.1, 8.206, 14.268, 314; participle, present in causal sense 15.18, of sum
lacking 13.96, in passive replaced by perfect
part. (5.68), 15.80; future conditional (4.10),
5.32, 6.(44), 277; perfect of sum lacking 3.34,
passive in deponents 6.539, 13.210; fractus
= frangibilis 5.68, conspectus = conspicuus
8.140; see also Nouns, Abstract avoided
Person, indefinite 2nd 5.54, 150, 7.50, 9.18; in
subordinate clause 1.18; perfect subjunctive
3.103; with indicative 3.100n., 5.25, imperative 14.275; see also Pronouns, tu; person
addressed spoken of in 3rd person 5.19

Passive in middle sense 6.147; impersonal 4.65

Intransitive used transitively 8.10, 265; desiderative 6.309, 16.46
Action not performed directly by subject
16.13n.; subject indefinite 13.77; with ait and
inquit 8.44n., 14.153
Verna 1.26, 5.105
Vetus see antiquus
Vivas 8.46
Volo 10.282, 14.185, 15.141; vis tu 5.74
Word-order: Apposition inserted in mid-phrase
3.48
Postponement of relative pronoun 12.1314n.,
of interrogative 7.81, of si 3.173, 16.37, of ut
15.155, of cum 8.87, of nam (2.45), 11.21, of et
(6.O.2); and passim
Prolepsis 6.2745; hyperbaton 3.94n., (4.116),
6.11516, 11.1869, 14.144; adjective and noun
in different clauses 11.410n.;
3.309, 5.129, 9.140, 10.54, 11213, 11.32; with
adjective 4.7, (6.103), 7.231, 8.129, 11.40,
14.275, 15.129; with noun 6.79, 8.171, 229,
11.28, 13.219, 223, 14.299, (15.135)